


The Lamian Guard

by UnluckyAlis



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-13
Updated: 2017-04-28
Packaged: 2018-05-01 11:20:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 38,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5203874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnluckyAlis/pseuds/UnluckyAlis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Danny's class is going on a field trip to Europe, but everything isn't as pleasant as it seems in the small country of Lamia. How are four ghost hunting teens supposed to stop a rising military coup?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Field Trip

“Danny?” Sam whispered, leaning down against her desk and turning towards her boyfriend. The raven-haired boy simply muttered something unintelligible, but otherwise made no show of waking.

“Danny!” Sam hissed more urgently, reaching across the aisle to poke the halfa. His response was instantaneous. Danny shot up into a sitting position, whipping around to face Sam and lashing out to grab her wrist. Sam winced at his strong grip and Danny dropped her arm in shock.

“Mr. Fenton!”

Danny looked at Sam apologetically, who gave him a reassuring smile as he turned to face the front of the class.

“Yes, Mr. Lancer?” Danny responded like the dedicated student he wasn’t.

“I hope you weren’t just sleeping in my class, or else I’d have to give you another detention.” Lancer’s eyes narrowed at the groggy teen. He had known Danny Fenton for a brief stint in middle school when he worked as a substitute instead of a full time teacher. He hadn’t been exceptionally smart, but he was adequately passing all his classes, pulling low B’s. Lancer had expected similar behaviour when he met the boy as a freshman in high school a couple years later, but was severely disappointed. He barely managed to scrape up the handful of D’s that kept him from failing, with the occasional C tossed in and a rare B that surprised everyone.

For the first year, he hoped Daniel would manage to pull himself together, bring his grades back up to what they had been before. But he hadn’t. Sophomore year his grades improved a little, and now that he was a junior he managed to have almost straight C’s, but Daniel still constantly missed class and got detention all the time.

“Of course I wasn’t, sir. Detention won’t be necessary.” Danny beamed. It was a lie, obviously, but Lancer could see the heavy bags under his eyes and sighed.

“Then you should have no problem telling me what we’ll be doing during spring break next week,” Lancer said.

Danny glanced at Sam, then focused on her emotions.

“We’re going on a trip,” he said, eyes flicking towards Lancer without turning his head.

“Yes.” Lancer nodded, looking surprised Danny got the answer right. “I’ve received permission from the school to take you to Europe as part of your history credit. Yes, Paulina?”

“Where will we be going? Because I already went to France for Christmas, and I don’t feeling like going there again,” Paulina whined, curling a strand of hair around her finger.

 _Only_ she _would complain about going to Europe_ , Danny thought, rolling his eyes at Sam, who was thinking the same thing.

“And how is the trip being paid for? We haven’t exactly raised funds for it,” Valerie asked, not even bothering to raise her hand.

“The trip is being paid for by a family here in Amity Park that has roots in the country we’ll be visiting. While there, we’ll also stay at the family’s local residence,” Lancer explained.

“Where exactly are we going?” Sam suddenly asked, her wary tone not going unnoticed by her friends.

Lancer watched Sam knowingly while he said, “Lamia.”

Sam groaned and dropped her head into her hands.

“Hey, isn’t that…?” Tucker pointed at Sam. Danny nodded while the Goth continued to groan, giving his girlfriend a pitying look.

“But aren’t you excited? I mean, that’s where your parents are from!” Tucker exclaimed as quietly as he could.

“No, Tucker. It’s a rich little county filled with thousands of rich little snobs like Paulina. It’s definitely the last place I want to go,” Sam muttered into her palms, sending a glare in Paulina’s direction.

“Everyone take a permission slip, and bring it to me by the end of the week. If you don’t get one signed, you don’t get to go!” Lancer shouted above the chattering students as the final bell rang. As they filed out, everyone grabbed one of the blue slips. Danny was dejected to see a pink slip in Lancer’s hand as he walked by, and took it obediently.

“I expect you to be back here within the next ten minutes,” Lancer said.

Danny sighed and nodded before walking swiftly to his locker. Sam and Tucker were right behind him.

“I actually thought he was going to let you off the hook this time,” Tucker said as Danny grabbed the homework he could do while stuck in Lancer’s classroom.

“Of course he wouldn’t, Tuck,” Danny said, dropping his books into his backpack. “I’m pretty sure the man hates me.”

“Oh, poor Danny, he has to sit in a classroom finishing up all the homework he’s behind on, while _we_ have to go fight ghosts since you can’t.” Sam smiled, running a hand through Danny’s hair.

“I’d rather be with the ghosts,” Danny muttered, slamming his locker. “What do you think? Should I just duplicate myself and leave a double with Lancer while we go have some fun?”

“I really hope I’m not being included in this ‘fun’ of yours,” Tucker said, which earned him a sharp punch on the shoulder from Sam.

“Careful, Tuck. She got new steel-toes recently, and I’m pretty sure I spotted a wrist-ray under her sleeve.” Danny chuckled. He pulled Sam’s arm up and slipped back her long sleeve, revealing the aforementioned ray.

“That’s not gonna scare me. Wrist-rays don’t hurt humans,” Tucker said stiffly.

“Oh, sure, it doesn’t _hurt._ But that doesn’t mean it won’t sting like hell.” Danny grinned at Tucker’s horrified expression.

“I’m just…. Going to go now,” Tucker said, slowly stepping away before turning and sprinting down the hallway. Sam and Danny broke down in fits of laughter as Tucker ran.

“Okay, but really, duplicate? Yes, no?” Danny asked, raising his hands as if weighing something.

“No. You really do need this time to finish your homework. Text me when you get out, and we can go patrolling,” Sam said. She gave Danny a quick kiss on the cheek before walking away.

Danny turned away from his locker and headed back towards Lancer’s classroom. Much like Lancer had been only half an hour before, Danny mused over how much he had changed in the past three years. He was a lot stronger now, and could maintain up to three duplicates during a fight. He knew Sam and Tucker could take on a lot of his weaker foes all on their own now, but he still found himself refusing to call them when a ghost attacked late at night like he used to. Their grades didn’t need to take a hit like his.

When Danny started dating Sam last year, he abandoned his usual outfit of white t-shirts and jeans, opting for darker colours. While that could partially be blamed on Sam’s Goth influence, Danny also thought it was appropriate when one considered the whole ‘half-dead’ thing. He, along with his friends, wore clothes that would cover the scars they received through ghost fighting. For Sam and Tucker, that luckily didn’t require much change. For Danny, though, he hadn’t worn a short-sleeved shirt in at least two years. But he didn’t mind much. His ghost core kept him cool enough on hot days, so short sleeves weren’t necessary.

Lancer was standing at his desk waiting for Danny when the halfa entered.

“Mr. Fenton,” Lancer said, nodding to the desks. Danny dropped down into one of the chairs and pulled out an English assignment.

“Mr. Lancer.” Danny nodded curtly in reply, smiling a little at Lancer’s slight frown. He’d grown used to the vice-principal’s disdain over the years, which saddened him. He liked the man in the middle school, but merely tolerated him now. Danny was used to people calling him stupid because of his low grades, but it annoyed him to no end when the teachers did too. From what he knew, teachers were supposed to encourage the students that did poorly, to help them do better. But it seems that everyone had given up on him.

Danny crossed out the sentence that he’d just written and started again, ignoring Lancer’s watchful eye. But he wasn’t focused on the essay. He was focused on the upcoming trip. He’d have to make arrangements with Dani so she could watch over Amity Park while he was gone. Danny was pretty sure Jazz had a break from college that week too, so she might be able to help out. Her ghost fighting skills had certainly improved since the days when she would suck Danny into the Fenton Thermos on accident.

He shuddered at the memory, feeling a momentary pang of pity for all the ghosts he locked up in there, sometimes for a days at a time, before returning them to the Ghost Zone. He couldn’t deny that his foes’ personal vendetta’s had some ground, and was mildly justified.

But, by juvenile logic, they started it, so they deserved it. They did, of course, but Danny still unconsciously curled inward at the thought of being stuck in the thermos.


	2. The Trouble

Danny groaned as the volume of his alarm clock slowly grew. In two short hours they would be leaving for Lamia. When he brought the permission slip home, his parents had been overjoyed and Jazz, being her usual annoying self, kept going on and on about how it would be so great for him to get out of Amity, leave the ghost fighting to someone else for a while. The day after he had his permission slip signed, Danny came home to find his bags had already been packed by an excitable Maddie, even though at that point the trip had still been two weeks away.

Danny had yet to decide if he was dismayed or relieved his mom had packed an entire duffle bag of ghost fighting weapons. He doubted they would be facing too many ghosts across the ocean, but since the start of his ghost fighting days, Danny had been growing increasingly paranoid about attacks.

He wasn’t actually going to bring the bag of weapons, but that didn’t mean Danny wasn’t going to bring any. He actually had a backpack set aside for occasions such as this. So, after sorting through the duffel and grabbing any items he would like to have on hand should a situation arise, and after contacting Danielle to make sure she would be present in Amity Park while he was away, Danny was ready to go.

He let out a muffled groan, pressing his face deeper into his pillow, before stretching out his arm. He searched blindly for the alarm clock, but to avail. With a frustrated growl, Danny charged up a weak ectoblast and fired it in the direction of the beeping. The alarm was silenced, and Danny risked opening one eye. His alarm clock had a distinct hole in the centre of its screen that was smoking gently. A flickering red three winked at him a few times before fading out of existence.

That would be the sixth broken alarm clock this year.

Finally, and with great force of will, Danny rolled from his bed and groggily pulled on his clothes. He looked outside at the darkened sky. It was three in the morning, and the flight was supposed to leave at five. He’d only gone to bed an hour ago.

“Was there even a point in going to sleep?” Danny muttered.

“Considering how little sleep you get, yes there was.”

Danny yawned wide and turned to see Jazz standing in his open doorway.

“Why are you even awake?” Danny asked as he stretched.

“I’m driving you guys to the airport, or did you forget?” A set of keys dangled from Jazz’s finger, and Danny stared at them in confusion.

“Mom and Dad went to that convention, remember?”

“Oh, yeah,” Danny mumbled. He grabbed the backpack from the foot of his bed and followed Jazz downstairs, to where his other bag was. He lifted the heavy suitcase easily and tossed it into the trunk of Jazz’s car before sliding into the passenger seat. They picked up Sam and Tucker on the way to the airport, and all three noticed how the raven-haired boy kept his eyes on their surroundings.

“Dude, relax! We’re going on vacation, to _Europe_. Dani’s gonna be here while we’re gone. Everything will be fine,” Tucker said.

“Don’t forget me, little brother,” Jazz added.

“You can’t exactly call me little anymore.” Danny grimaced, recalling how he was now a full head taller than Jazz.

“Sorry, you’re always going to be my _little_ brother.” Jazz grinned while Sam and Tucker laughed from the backseat. The trio was among some of the first to arrive at the airport, and after the painfully slow process of going through security and customs, Danny almost expected the sun to be rising by the time they were all boarding the plane.

“Watch it, Fentina!” Dash grumbled as he shoved past Danny while he was putting his suitcase in the overhead compartment. Danny shot Dash a harsh glare, before shoving his bag all the way in and dropping into his seat by the window. Sam sat down beside him and Tucker, who was behind them with Valerie, leaned over the seats.

“So, what’s in the backpack?” Tucker asked, motioning to the black bag at Danny’s feet. Danny gave the people around them a cursory glance, making sure no one was watching them or possibly eavesdropping, and lowered his voice.

“Ghost hunting stuff.”

“Seriously, dude? How’d you even get that past security?” Tucker, who was talking a little loud for Danny’s liking, was quickly shushed by the three people surrounding him.

“But really, Danny, how _did_ you get that here?” Valerie asked.

“Like this.” Danny reached down to the bag and grabbed the strap. It turned invisible and intangible to everything and anyone but Danny. “Found out during a trip we took last year that, as long as it isn’t organic material, if you turn something intangible then it can’t be detected by scanners.”

“Whoa,” Valerie said. After having learned Danny’s secret some months ago, she was still getting used to the fact that Danny, the Danny that she had dated for a week, was Phantom, the ghost she had once deemed to be her worst enemy. Of course, that was all before she met Danielle. After that, she was less hostile towards Danny, and obviously now she was working together with the trio. An official member of Team Phantom.

“But can’t it just, like, slip through your hands?” Tucker mimed something falling from his grip.

“As long as I’m the one who turned it intangible, I can touch it if I want to. And it can stay intangible once I’ve stopped touching it. One of the perks of being among the strongest ghosts ever known,” Danny smirked.

Sam rolled her eyes at the blatant arrogance as Danny turned the backpack visible and tangible again.

“Why did you bring all that stuff anyways? It’s not like we’ll actually be fighting ghosts,” Sam said.

“I know, but it pays to be prepared. Besides, the Fenton Phones don’t just have to be used in ghostly emergencies. They could come in handy,” Danny said.

“Mr. Foley, Ms. Grey, in your seats please,” Lancer said as he walked by. Tucker and Valerie reluctantly complied, and everyone buckled up their seatbelts when the light flashed. Danny hardly paid attention to the captain’s announcements, instead staring out the window. He was still staring when a black and white figure appeared on the wing of the plane, over which Danny was sitting.

Danny grinned and gave Danielle a small wave, which the younger halfa returned, before flying away as the engines powered up.

“Have I ever told you how much I hate flying?” Tucker muttered to Valerie behind them.

“I think this is about the hundredth time now.” Valerie laughed.

“Tuck, just think of it this way,” Danny said as he turned to face his best friend. “If we’re going to crash, you’ve got your great hero Danny Phantom here to protect you.”

“Oh, shut up,” Tucker muttered as the others laughed.

The take-off was smooth and the flight was uneventful. There were a few bouts of turbulence, but mostly everyone was asleep for them. During the waking hours, the A-listers gossiped and tossed snide remarks to the ‘losers’. There were several moments of chaos when everyone rushed around to change seats and be with their friends once the seatbelt sign turned off. Throughout it all, Team Phantom stayed together, talking quietly about everything from the trip itinerary (which didn’t actually look too boring), to the GIW’s latest developments in ghost hunting (they remained oblivious to halfas, but were making some disturbing advances in anti-ecto weaponry).

The landing was as equally uneventful, and as they touched down on the landing strip, Danny grumbled that no one had woken them up when they were flying over the country.

“Um, dude? You could fly up there any time you want. Or have you forgotten that you’ve flown _higher_ than a plane before?” Tucker snickered.

“I know, Tuck, but going up that high takes a lot of energy.” Danny shrugged. “Besides, it would just be me up there.”

“No Sammykins to keep you company?” Tucker grinned, ducking the Goth’s fist. The plane stopped, and everyone shifted in their seats expectantly, undoing their seat belts and grabbing the small bags from beneath them.

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. Our flight time was just a little over seven hours, and the local time is five p.m. If you could all sit tight for just a few more minutes, we have some folks coming onboard for a routine check, then you can continue on your way.” The intercom clicked off.

Everyone glanced around nervously as the plane’s door opened, and three men in military fatigues stepped into view. The first two held strange, boxy devices in their hands with numerous blinking lights, and marched down the aisle, each facing one side of the plane. The third one, no doubt their commanding officer, hung back by the door, a large gun held loosely in his hands.

“Sam?” Danny said, watching the three men warily.

“Yeah, Danny, I know.” Sam wouldn’t pull her eyes away from the two approaching officers.

“Those are ecto-energy detectors, aren’t they?” Tucker whispered from behind them.

“Yup,” Danny nodded.

“And that other guy, that’s an ecto-blaster,” Tucker continued.

“Looks like it’s Dalv tech.” Danny couldn’t help but press himself further into his seat, and he forced his cold core as deep as it could go. As the officer approached, he only just remembered to turn his backpack invisible.

The lights on the energy detector, which had been blinking steadily up until this point, now flashed rapidly as it neared their row. The officer looked up, his eyes first drawn to Sam, making assumptions because of her Goth attire. He raised the device and brought it close to Sam, who glared up at the man as it started to whine. One of his eyebrows shot up, and he tilted the antenna in Danny’s direction. The pitch of whine went up a couple octaves, and Danny winced at how loud it was in his sensitive ears.

“Sir, I think we’ve got one,” the officer called back. Several heads turned to look at Danny as the commanding officer approached, no longer so casually holding his gun. Danny pressed the invisible strap of his backpack into Sam’s hand while the higher ranking man spoke.

“You’ll be coming with us, ghost.”


	3. The Enemy

“For the last time, I’m not a ghost!” Danny shouted. He was becoming increasingly agitated. The metal chair that Danny occupied was very uncomfortable, and the anti-ecto cuffs burned his wrists.

“I’ll be the judge of that.” The man who arrested Danny, and introduced himself as General Ezra, slammed a heavy fist down on the table in the interrogation room. Danny suddenly found the situation to be a little humorous, and very much a cliché.

“Look, if I were a ghost, would I be breathing?” Danny asked. For emphasis, he took a slow, deep breath.

“That doesn’t mean you need to breathe,” the general pointed out. Danny released his breath in a loud huff. Ezra had a point. Danny didn’t need to breathe when he was in his ghost form, he mostly just did it out of habit when he realized that he wasn’t.

“Would I have a heart beat?” Danny further reasoned. He was less agitated and more annoyed now. At first, sure, he had been a little scared. But it didn’t take long for Danny to realize that, when it came to ghosts, these guys were total amateurs. Sure, General Ezra _looked_ intimidating, but it was obvious he knew very little on the subject. Danny also worried about his concept of human anatomy, since the general obviously didn’t realize that warm skin, plus breathing, plus a beating heart meant _not a ghost_. Yeah, that would be wrong. But as far as most people knew, it would equal a pure human being.

Ezra walked around the table and stopped next to Danny, frowning down at him. In the next moment, Danny was suddenly holding Ezra’s wrist in a firm grip, inches above his heart, and the barrel of a gun was pressed against his temple.

“Very fast,” Ezra commented as Danny released his wrist.

“Sorry, reflexes,” Danny gave his lame excuse as the gun was removed from his head, and he processed what just happened. Ezra’s hand had suddenly shot out, obviously going to see whether Danny was telling the truth about a heartbeat or not. Danny, out of purse instinct alone, lashed out to stop the motion before it finished. Moving slower this time, Ezra reached for Danny’s neck instead, and felt his pulse there.

“So you have heartbeat,” Ezra complied, stepping away again, but he still sounded suspicious.

“Look, I’m obviously not a ghost. I’m not being overshadowed by a ghost, and I’m not working with any evil ghosts, okay?” Danny slumped in his chair.

“Overshadowed?”

“You know, when a ghost possesses someone? You don’t know, do you?” Danny shook his head. They didn’t even know the basics about ghosts. Vlad was selling his weapons and stolen inventions to morons.

“And how exactly would you know?” Ezra’s suspicions were increasing by the minute, at the same rate that Danny’s annoyance was.

“Because I’m from Amity Park.” The explanation was simple, and satisfactory. But the general—and he was only doing his job, really—wasn’t convinced.

“I’ve heard of this place. I believe the whole world has.”

“Of course you don’t believe me. Fine. Go ask the people I came here with, ask Mr. Lancer. Phone America! I’m not lying,” Danny hissed through his teeth.

“I suppose that I will,” Ezra growled, before leaving Danny alone. The halfa sighed and glanced down at his wrists. These anti-ghost cuffs weren’t the normal kind that you simply couldn’t phase through—not that he would, considering he was trying to convince them he _wasn’t_ a ghost—but they actually hurt a little. It was as if the metal had been heated. There were red rings around his wrists where they touched his skin. Luckily, since he was only half ghost, the burns weren’t as bad as they could have been, but they were quickly progressing towards second degree. Danny was just thankful he had long sleeved shirts that would be able to cover them.

He wasn’t sure how long he waited in the room for General Ezra to return, but it felt like a long time. He had already been in there for an hour before Ezra left. Danny sighed again, dropping his chin into his hands, and glancing around. There were cameras in the corners of the room, but other than his chair and the table, that was it. He casually lowered his hands into his lap, then leaned forwards so they would be safely hidden from the cameras beneath the table. Danny sighed deeply and felt the cold spread from his core, to his wrists.

Really, compared to all the other times Danny had been injured, these burns were nothing. But it could be problematic having questionable scars in a very noticeable area. He already had a scar on his face that Danny actually hid with makeup. Considering only Tucker, Sam, and Jazz had actually seen the injury when he still had it, it would be suspicious when people started pointing out the fact that scars were just suddenly appearing on his face. Danny lifted his hands from under the table and brushed his thumb against the spot. The scar started on his cheek bone and curled up between his eye and ear, into his hairline on the left side of his face.

Danny quickly dropped his hand when Ezra returned.

“Why were our ghost trackers set off by you?” Ezra asked while remaining out of Danny’s line of sight. Luckily, Danny hadn’t entirely wasted his time alone in the interrogation room. He had a very plausible lie on hand.

“My parents are ghost hunters, and inventors. Being around and working with their inventions, I’ve received my fair share of ectoplasmic radiation. The signatures never truly fade once you’ve been affected, so I must have built up enough to set off your device. Happens all the time at home,” Danny shrugged nonchalantly.

Ezra scowled, a little displeased. He had done just as Danny suggested. Spoken to the people he was with on the plane, and everyone he asked told him the same thing. They were from Amity Park, here on a school trip, Danny was viewed by most as a loser and a freak, and his parents were ghost hunters. When asking _them_ why Danny may set off the device, three people gave a vague explanation not too different from the one Danny gave now.

“You can go,” Ezra said, sounding more than a little angered at having been proven wrong. He undid Danny’s cuffs, and the halfa was quick to slide his sleeves over his wrists, grasping the ends of them in his fingers like a small child might on a shirt much too long for them. Ezra pushed him none too gently out the open door, but Danny hardly even stumbled. He scowled, then rocked slightly as two figures crashed into him, while three voices chorused.

“Danny!”

“Hey.” Danny grinned at Sam and Val, who were hugging him, and bent down to give Sam a kiss while Valerie broke away. “What, Val, you don’t want one?”

“Not from you I don’t,” Val scoffed, smiling slightly. Both Sam and Danny noticed how her eyes briefly fell on Tucker, before Lancer called for the rest of class, who had been following closely behind the trio, to settle down.

“ _Alias Grace_ , people! We’ve been delayed for long enough. Mr. Fenton, I’ve been assured that you’re unharmed?” Lancer asked. Danny nodded and rolled his eyes, muttering something like “as if they could hurt me.”

Lancer, having missed Danny’s quiet retort, nodded in satisfaction. “Alright, class! Now that everyone is present again, we will be proceeding to our accommodations. Luckily, we didn’t have any activities planned for today anyways, so once your bags have been dropped off in your rooms, you’re welcome to free-time in the nearby area.”

Team Phantom hung back so they would be a couple paces behind the rest of the class, then followed them to baggage claim. They, unlike everyone else, only brought carry-on should something happen and they were to be separated with their luggage. Sam passed Danny the invisible strap to his weapon filled backpack and, while standing behind his three friends, Danny made it visible once again and threw it over his shoulder.

“So what happened?” Sam asked.

“Nothing much. He accused me of being a ghost for about an hour, maybe longer. Asked what my diabolical plans were, who I was working with. All that stuff,” Danny said. “Oh, and it appears that Vlad has upped the ante on his anti-ghost cuffs. They actually harm me now.”

He pulled back one of his sleeves to reveal the blisters ringing his wrists. They were already starting to heal, and would probably be gone by the time he fell asleep tonight.

“I was wondering about that. I mean, ghosts are only _really_ active in Amity Park, right? Because of your parents portal, and all the natural portals that open up there. Plus there’s that… what did you call it?” Tucker asked.

“It’s like an energy. Just something about the geographical location that attracts ghosts. Trust me, even from here I can feel the pull that makes me want to go back.”

“Either that, or your worrying about how Dani is doing without you and just really, really, want to back to saving your precious town,” Sam teased.

“Yeah, or that,” Danny blushed.

“But about Vlad’s weapons?” Val, as always, brought them back on track.

“Right, yeah. As Tuck was saying, ghosts are only active enough to require defense in Amity. But Vlad is selling his weapons here. I mean, it’s possible that there’s other places that can be just as attractive to ghosts, but I’m kind of doubting it. So if they have ghost weapons, they probably have a real ghost problem,” Danny pondered. He glanced at the rest of their class, and saw that only Paulina was waiting for her luggage. She was complaining loudly about how she had to go last and some people obviously didn’t respect money as much as they should have.

“That shallow little!”

“Sam, chill out. It’s _Paulina_. What did you expect?” Tucker said, trying to placate the fuming Goth.

“I expect her not to act like a spoiled little brat all the time! She hasn’t changed at all in three years. And I’ve tried, really tried, not to see her as shallow. But I swear, the next she complains about how her having money means she should get more or better things, I’m going to go over there and tell her how much there is to my name!” Sam shouted, though not so loudly that it would draw attention.

“Um, Danny? Your girlfriend, your problem.” Tucker put up his hands and pulled Val away from the couple.

“Sam, Tucker’s right, it’s _Paulina_. She’s never going to change. You know that, I know that, everyone knows that! At least our classmates have finally realized that by now.” Danny calmed Sam down and motioned to some of their classmates, who looked just as annoyed as Sam that the Latina was making such a fuss.

“Okay, fine. But I wasn’t lying, the next time she does that, I’ll tell her. It’d be great to finally see her face when she realizes that I actually have _more_ money than her. Maybe I should even tell her whose summer home we’ll be staying at.” Sam grinned mischievously, causing Danny to laugh.

“Just make sure I’m there when it happens.” After receiving reassurance from Sam that she would, they sought out Tucker and Val, then left the airport and piled onto a bus with the rest of the class.

The woman who would be their tour guide throughout the trip, Elaine, stood at the front of the bus throughout the drive and gave them some information about Lamia, and the capital which they currently resided in. The country was small, you could drive from one side to the other in a matter of hours, and the ground was naturally rich. Filled with ores and minerals, and the capital was built around a large, prosperous diamond mine that had made it very rich, very quickly. The mine was still in use, and the country had little debt.

Danny listened idly, but kept most of his focus on the streets outside. And on the people. Most looked wealthy, and happy, but he could feel the unease in the air, and more often than he was comfortable with Danny saw people dressed in military garb sporting anti-ghost weaponry, no doubt courtesy of Dalv.

“Danny, relax,” Sam said, rubbing Danny’s arm. He nodded absently, but kept his eyes glued on the outside.

Sam’s family mansion was tucked into a neighbourhood of extravagant buildings with well-manicured estates. While some of their classmates stopped to gawk at the building, Tucker and Danny dropped their stuff off in their shared room while Sam and Valerie did the same. Before leaving, Tucker glimpsed Danny sneaking a few wrist-rays and Fenton Phones into the large pockets of his black cargo pants, but didn’t say anything.

“Mr. Lancer, we’re gonna go look around,” Tucker said as they were leaving.

“Please return to the mansion be ten o’clock,” Lancer reminded them. The teens nodded and headed out.

“Any sightseeing suggestions from the local girl?” Tucker asked Sam teasingly.

“I’m not local, idiot. I’m only here for maybe a week every summer. Besides, I think food should be our first stop,” Sam said with a glance at Danny. “It’s nearly seven, and everyone else got to eat at the airport.”

“Thanks, Sam.” Danny smiled.

“I could eat,” Tucker agreed, which earned him a nudge from Valerie.

“You could always eat.”

“You’re not wrong.”

They decided to go to a street vendor for something quick and easy. While walking around Danny noticed that, in terms of money, everyone seemed relatively well off. But he had to notice anyone, or overhear anything, to remind him of the snobbish Paulina. Maybe Sam had been a little prejudiced about the country, based on her own personal experiences with rich people.

They were entering a small, touristy shop to look for souvenirs when Danny’s ghost sense went off.

“It pays to be paranoid,” Danny muttered to his friends. He backed out of the store and found the closest alley, passing over the wrist-rays and Fenton Phones he’d brought along. “I’ll be right back.”

His friends nodded and fell into a well-worn routine. Tucker stood outside the alley while Danny changed, to make sure no one witnessed him going ghost, while Sam and Valerie started to scan the street for the threat Danny sensed.

Danny Phantom emerged from the alley above the buildings, his ghostly eyes searching as well. He focused on his ghost sense and spread it out, hoping to pinpoint the source. He did, and was soon flying off over the rooftops. As Danny neared the ghost, he recognized the ectoplasmic signature, and found himself stopping midflight out of shock.

“Plasmius.”


	4. The President

Danny scowled. What was Plasmius doing in Lamia? That very question was why he had yet to confront the older halfa. For almost an hour Danny tailed Plasmius, following his ectoplasmic signature instead of relying on his sight. Vlad couldn’t sense ghosts like he could, so this worked to Danny’s advantage.

Vlad finally stopped flying, and Danny quickly landed and suppressed his own signature before approaching. Vlad, as Masters, was walking up to the gate of a large mansion. He spoke briefly to the security guard, and the gate opened to welcome him inside. Vlad quickly traversed the gravel drive, and was welcomed into the house. Danny’s eyes narrowed, and he turned invisible as he flew over the gate. With all the hype about ghosts, he expected some sort of alarm to go off, and was surprised when it didn’t.

Then he slapped himself in realization. “Duh, it would have gone off for Vlad.”

Danny phased into the mansion and started searching for Vlad. But while the man was in human form, he was unable to track his signature. He could only tell that Vlad was somewhere nearby. With a frustrated sigh he started to roam the halls. The mansion was fancy, even fancier than the Manson’s. Photos of people dressed in fine clothes lined the walls, with small gold plaques beneath them stating their name, and a brief range of number. Danny was staring at one such picture when two voices reached his sensitive ears.

“If you could just wait here, he’ll be with you shortly,” a gruff voice stated. Danny froze, momentarily forgetting he was invisible, when a man in formal military dress left a nearby room. The halfa waited until he was gone before approaching, expecting to see Vlad inside.

He couldn’t stop the word that slipped from his mouth as he recognized the back that was to him. “Mr. Lancer?”

“Daniel?” Lancer started to turn, and Danny quickly transformed and turned visible. “ _Of Mice and Men_ , Mr. Fenton, how did you get in here, and what was that bright flash?”

“Um, I followed you, and flickering lights?” Danny offered, stepping into the room.

“I thought you were with Ms. Manson, Mr. Foley, and Ms. Grey?”

“Uh, yeah, I was. But I saw you and I followed you.” Danny shrugged. Lancer watched him for a moment before responding.

“No matter, you might as well be here too. You _are_ the reason that I’m here in the first place,” Lancer said.

“I am?” Danny stepped further into the room, scolding himself for speaking in the first place, and sat down on a chair in the middle of the room.

“Yes. I’ve been told that this is a sort of compensation for today’s earlier events,” Lancer explained vaguely. Danny was about to ask him for more details when the solider (Danny assumed he was a solider) from before returned, with another man close behind him. The soldier spotted Danny and his eyes widened. As his mouth opened, the taller man gave him a firm nod, eyes also on Danny, and the soldier left after giving the halfa a wary glance.

“Would I be correct in assuming that you are Edward Lancer?” The man asked.

“Yes, and this is one of my students, Daniel Fenton.” Lancer shook the man’s hand and motioned to Danny.

“It’s Danny,” the halfa corrected.

“Danny, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I believe you’re the boy that had a misunderstanding with my soldiers?” The man was smiling apologetically and shook Danny’s hand. “I am sorry about that, but there have been some things going on making everyone a bit jumpy.”

“That’s an understatement,” Danny muttered. Lancer suddenly cleared his throat, calling for Danny’s attention.

“Daniel, do you know who this is?” Lancer asked, motioning politely to the man.

“Not a clue.” Danny shook his head, then took in the man’s appearance. Besides being tall, he had light coloured hair, like most of Lamia’s citizens, with a light layer of stubble along his jaw, and bore a faded tan. His face looked weathered, but not old, and he had a kind look in his eyes. He wore clothes similar General Ezra, a light blue and in military style, but it seemed more casual on his relaxed demeanor when compared to Ezra’s own strict, almost uptight behaviour.

“This is President Dells,” Lancer clarified carefully.

Danny’s eyes widened with realization. “Mr. President, sorry about, um, _that_.”

“Not a problem, Danny,” Dells said cheerfully. “My country is known for two things, our gems, and our hospitality. After your experience, I believe you’re entitled to a little bit of _that_.”

Danny grinned, deciding that as far as presidents went, not that he’d actually met any before, Syran Dells was alright.

“You said Fenton, yes? That name sounds very familiar to me.” Dells dipped his chin in thought. Apparently the reason why Danny had been released hadn’t been told to the president.

“You might be thinking of the ghost hunting Fentons in America, who happen to be my parents,” Danny supplied politely.

“Ah, yes, the ghost hunters! I’m sure, then, that you’ve recognized the equipment my soldiers are carrying?”

“Dalv tech ghost hunting gear. You could say that Vlad Masters is a friend of the family.” Danny nodded.

“Really? That’s excellent! We have been having a bit of a problem with ghosts lately, and could use a little expertise on the situation, if you would be willing to help.” The president beamed.

“You’re serious?” Danny gaped. This didn’t really sound like something a president would do. Apparently, the soldier Dells had dismissed earlier agreed, and burst into the room.

“Mr. President, I don’t really think that’s the best idea,” the soldier said.

“It’s nothing to worry about, Fable. Since I have been unsuccessful in contacting Mr. Masters himself, I’m sure young Danny here could be of great help,” Dells reassured the soldier, who reluctantly left the room again. “You have experience with ghosts and ghost hunting?”

Danny cast a wary glance at Lancer. He would have to be careful with his wording. “I do. My parents built a ghost portal, so I’ve had some contact with them, and I’ve also hunted a few ghosts on my own.”

“This is excellent, excellent!” Dells clapped Danny on the back and Danny, to put up with the guise of a weak teenager, forced himself to flinch a little.

“President Dells, I hope I’m not being rude, but Daniel is one of my students, and I have the rest of my class to look after as well. I’m sure you understand if ‘am a little worried about what could happen,” Lancer said.

“It will not be a problem at all! We have numerous guest housing locations, and I would be glad to accommodate your students if it would win me the assistance of Danny here.”

Lancer was stunned, and tried to stutter out a reply, but he was too flustered to formulate a proper response.

Danny’s hero-complex immediately took over and replied for his teacher. “I’ll help.”

“This is fantastic! I’ll send some cars to your current accommodations once we’re done here, and I will take care of any problems that may arise with the sudden change in location. Including refunding hotel costs.”

“A refund won’t be necessary, we’re staying at a local residence. One of my students has a family home here,” Lancer said.

“What’s the family name?” Dells asked.

“Manson,” Danny answered.

“Oh, excellent. That must mean Samantha is your student.” Dells beamed.

“You know Sam?”

“A close friend of yours?”

“You could say that.” Danny nodded.

“Then our best accommodations are required.”

“I’m sure that won’t be necessary,” Lancer protested, but was cut short as Dells started leading them out of the room.

“Not at all, not at all. It will be my pleasure. Lieutenant Fable, if you could please provide these gentlemen with an escort while I start making the arrangements.”

Fable nodded and motioned for Danny and Lancer to follow. Dells politely waited until they could no longer see him before he walked away. Meanwhile, on the way back outside, Lancer decided to confront Danny on the things he had just revealed.

“Mr. Fenton, I don’t think it’s wise for you to get involved in ghost hunting when so young and unexperienced,” Lancer lectured.

“All due respect, Mr. Lancer, my parents are ghost hunters, and we live in a town infested with ghosts. There’s no way I wouldn’t get involved.”

“Do your parents know that you hunt ghosts?” Lancer asked seriously.

“Of-of course they do, who do you think I go hunting with?” Danny stammered, realizing the flaw in his earlier wording. Lancer apparently realized it too.

“I believe I heard you say, ‘on your own’.” Lancer raised a questioning eyebrow as they stepped back onto the street. Before answering, Danny cast an uneasy look at the presidential house behind them. He hadn’t been able to find out what Vlad was up to, and Dells specifically said he couldn’t get in contact with the Fruitloop. This meant he either didn’t know the man was in his home at that moment, or he lied to them. Danny frowned. What in the nine realms could Vlad be doing?

“I did say that, yep, you’re right.” Danny nodded, pulling his stare away from the receding gate. “I do go out on my own sometimes, but I usually go with my parents. I thought it would be good practice to hunt without their help.”

“I still don’t agree with this, but the president has requested your help, and you’ve already agreed, so I guess there isn’t anything I can do about that,” Lancer sighed.

“No, not really. Hey, I think I see Sam and Tucker. So I’m just going to go with them, tell them what happened, and we’ll return to the house shortly.” Danny pointed in a random direction and ran off, waving over his shoulder as he rounded a corner and disappeared from view. He found a secluded spot and changed into Phantom form, flying back to where he’d left his friends.

He knew his acceptance of the president’s request had been a little sudden and not very well-thought out, but there were three things about that. The first was that it was the _president_. It would feel kind of weird to turn down his request. The second thing was Danny’s hero-complex, which just couldn’t let him ignore a cry for help. Okay, it hadn’t actually been a _cry_ , but that didn’t really matter. Lastly, was Vlad. If he was in the president’s home once, it’s likely he would go there again, and when he did, Danny would like to actually find out what he was doing.


	5. The Soldier

The cars arrived at the house around eight. Apparently Lancer hadn’t told the rest of the class what was going on, so many of them grumbled when they were told to gather in the mansion foyer, bags packed, in the next ten minutes. Team Phantom was huddled in the corner, whispering quietly to each other. As soon as he’d found them, Danny told the others what was going on. Sam surprised Danny by acting like her normal, skeptical self. A little biased because of her dislike of rich people, and naturally suspicious of the president’s motives. She even scolded Danny for his easy acceptance of the request, something the halfa hadn’t expected since Dells seemed to know her. For this reason, he kept that little revelation to himself for now.

Tucker was pumped that they would get to stay in a presidential guest house, and Valerie was somewhere in between. All of them wanted to know what Vlad was doing, and they passed theories between each other as their classmates gathered before them.

“The president said they were having a ghost problem right? Vlad’s probably the reason for that,” said Tucker.

“Well, obviously.” Valerie rolled her eyes. “But how are they getting here?”

“He could have built a ghost portal here.” Tucker shrugged.

“No way. That’s something that takes a long time, and from the sound of it, Dells has never actually been in contact with Vlad.”

“Unless he was lying,” Sam interrupted, voicing Danny’s alternate theory.

“But what does that have to do with a portal?” Tucker asked.

“The construction, obviously. Vlad can’t just build a portal anywhere. Knowing him, he’d have to find a really secluded location, and he’d probably build another mansion, or some kind of Dalv building on top of it,” Sam explained.

“I still don’t get it.”

“Don’t you ever listen in class? Things are run a little differently here, since the country is so small. Foreign companies that want to build a location here have to have presidential approval. The same thing goes for vacation homes, which I’m sure a cover mansion would classify as, if Vlad chose to build one. In a small country, the use of the land is a very touchy subject. Especially since in Lamia, the land is what provides the country’s profit,” Sam continued, gaining a few awed stares. “What?”

“They didn’t talk about that in class,” Valerie said, the boys nodding in agreement.

“My grandmother may have told me,” Sam spoke lightly. “I guess I just remembered it.”

“But this counts as a vacation home, doesn’t it? So your parents would have gone through the whole ‘presidential approval’ thing,” Tucker said, gesturing to the house at large.

“No. It’s a family home, they retained ownership when they moved. Mom keeps insisting we keep it.”

“Wow, you really don’t like it here,” Tucker pointed out.

Sam glared at him, and immediately changed the subject. “If the president didn’t lie, why do you think Vlad would be at the presidential office if it wasn’t to meet him?”

“I don’t know. Maybe he was meeting with him today, and Dells just wasn’t aware, but I doubt it considering the tie. He could have been meeting someone else, I just don’t know who it could be.” Danny shook his head, once again regretting he hadn’t been able to follow Vlad further. He should have just turned invisible when he saw Lancer, but the shock had made a decision for him. A stupid one, but a decision nonetheless.

“Alright, class, settle down!” Lancer rose his voice among the tumult of conversations. It took about a minute, but eventually the conversations died down. Although the A-listers and Team Phantom still talked quietly amongst themselves. “Due to certain events, we will no longer be staying at the manor here.”

“I bet it’s Fenturd’s fault,” Dash spat, glaring at the halfa behind him.

“Yes, Dash, it’s because of Daniel,” Lancer nodded, causing Dash to send Danny a threatening gesture. “ _Because of Daniel_ , we’ll be staying on President Dells’ estate.”

Around the room jaws dropped, and Danny suddenly wished Lancer hadn’t said that when many heads swivelled around to stare at him. He rubbed the back of his neck, keeping his eyes cast down as the questions started.

“What happened?”

“Yeah, Fenton, what did you do?”

“It’s, uh, compensation. For that airport thing?” Danny chuckled, looking to his friends for help. They weren’t able to provide any, but luckily Lancer reclaimed the class’ attention with instructions on what they would be doing. Once everyone understood, they eagerly spilled out onto the street and climbed into the two limousines provided for them.

During the drive over, Danny avoided answering his classmates’ questions by feigning sleep. Sam, Tucker, and Valerie participated in a loud and very uninterruptable conversation, since they all couldn’t pretend to sleep. The drive was short, but when Danny opened his eyes, he saw they were already a decent ways away from the city. As the vehicles pulled up on the looping gravel drive, every students’ jaw dropped. If they thought the Manson house had been big, this mansion was _huge_. Despite being closer to the UK, the mansion was in Spanish colonial style rather than Victorian or Tudor, with white walls and red-stained roof tiles.

The class was gathered before the entrance, staring up at the building. A few people had backpacks slung over their shoulders, but the majority of their luggage would be coming in a few minutes in another car. The wide front doors opened, and a butler wearing an impeccable suit stepped to the side, sweeping his arm out dramatically to welcome them inside. Paulina, being used to luxury, and wanting to maintain her image, tossed her hair back and sauntered into the building like she owned it, although her own eyes were wide as she looked around the beautiful building.

The other A-listers were quick to follow, and everyone was surprised when the resident losers were next. Unlike the A-listers, who were feigning their own comfortability in such a lavish space, Danny, Sam, Tucker, and Valerie truly did look like they dealt with this kind of money on a daily basis. With Valerie it was a little understandable, considering her family had once had a lot of money to their name. But the original trio? It just seemed so impossible.

Their classmates didn’t know it, but it wasn’t impossible at all, and not just because of Sam’s massive fortune. Sam’s parents had allowed Danny to date their daughter on one condition, he learn about their business to prove himself. So the original trio had been apprenticing under Jeremy Manson for almost a year. Because of this, they were used to dealing with rich people, and while they still admired the state of a house built from lots of money, they had grown used to it.

They automatically moved to a sitting room off to the right where they could politely wait for the butler to perform any instructed tasks. Unsure of what to do, their classmates followed, the A-listers immediately claiming what little seating there was, minus the loveseat Team Phantom occupied.

Unsurprisingly, the butler _had_ been given prior instructions, and once the students awkwardly settled themselves in the seating room, he disappeared for a few minutes. During this time, the losers of Casper High spoke freely and casually with each other while subdued conversations rose from the rest of the class. Their voices were low, as if raising them to ‘inside’ volumes would be sacrilege in the mansion. A rather unexpected curtesy from the usually rowdy class.

When the butler returned, most conversations died down, while Danny, Sam, Tucker, and Valerie simply lowered the volume of theirs respectfully. He pushed a trolley in front of him, and lifted the lid off the tray on top. It revealed a generous number of small dessert cakes, which Dash eagerly started into when the butler motioned the student’s forwards. He left the room as he had entered it, completely silent.

The class became more comfortable in the presence of food and started chatting in their selective social groups, mostly about the trip so far. Although the A-listers complained once or twice that no one had come to speak to them yet. It was after one of these complaints that Danny heard the front door opening over the clashing of conversations. He had been about to say something to Tucker, and it immediately went noticed by his friends when he opened his mouth, then snapped it shut quickly. Danny glanced at the class, who probably wouldn’t notice the president right away, and would more than likely rudely ignore him for a few moments before _someone_ finally noticed him.

With this in mind, Danny hissed sharply at his classmates. “Shh!”

It was a sound they were all familiar with, and it sounding as commanding as any teacher. Strictly out of habit, or at least that’s what the A-listers would say later on, the class fell silent, a few of them looking at Danny in surprise as they realized the shush had come from him and not the overweight teacher behind them. Danny ignored their looks and stood up, his friends a second behind him, just as President Dells walked into the room.

“Daniel! Sorry, _Danny_. I apologize for being late, but General Ezra begged my attention a moment longer during our meeting. I’m glad to see you have all arrived without any incident, and that Morris, the butler at this estate, has already provided you with the sweets.” Dells grinned at the gathered students, who had yet to rise like Team Phantom, and were staring openly at the president, although a few had the mind to act like they weren’t.

“It’s okay, you were busy,” Danny said politely, just barely restraining the shrug that he would have naturally provided in this instance. He may be used to dealing with the upper class, but Danny was Danny, and acting unlike himself wasn’t an easy thing to do.

“I appreciate your patience and orderly conduct-” cue a muffled snort form one techno-geek “-and would be greatly pleased if you could follow me for a tour.” Dells nodded to Lancer, then stepped out of the sitting room as the class stumbled to their feet. They once again spilled out into the main hall, and it was there that Danny saw Lieutenant Fable, who appeared to be the president’s appointed guard.

Despite the size of the house, the tour was short, and the students were shown the rooms they would be staying in, many of which were already occupied by their luggage as the mansion staff carried the numerous bags in through the back door. Dells kindly informed the class they could move their luggage to another room as needed if they preferred alternate rooming arrangements, wished them a pleasant stay in his country, and left with Fable in tow after arranging to meet Danny tomorrow evening.

The moment the president was out the doors, chaos ensued. The students clamoured up the stairs to the various suites and bedrooms, making arrangements. This mansion was built to accommodate a far larger number than the one owned by Sam’s parents. Because of this, only a few students were forced to bunk together. Paulina and Star, Danny and Tucker, and Mikey and Lester had to share rooms. For most of the students, the remaining hour before curfew was spent either exploring the mansion, or gracing the large pool in the backyard. Team Phantom, however, had settled themselves in Danny and Tucker’s room to discuss in private.

“So what are you going to do with the president?” Sam asked while Danny braided her hair, something he’d done on many occasions for Jazz.

“I guess just answer his questions, help out as much as I can, and hopefully hinder whatever plans Vlad has,” Danny answered casually.

“Dude, that sounds too easy. What if they bring more of that ghost detecting gear near you?”

“He already has an excuse for that, duh.” Valerie elbowed Tucker, none too lightly, as she reminded him of Danny’s earlier ‘escape’ plan with the soldiers at the airport.

“Oh, yeah. Let’s just hope he won’t have any eager scientists on hand, _that_ might be a problem.”

“Maybe. But my story from earlier would explain any ectoplasm in my blood. At the moment, I’m more worried about Vlad.” Danny twisted the strands of Sam’s hair together, which had grown a little longer throughout the years, but was still kept fairly short. He thrust a hand over her shoulder. “Elastic.”

Sam readily supplied Danny with the one on her wrist, and he finished the braid. “Okay, done. I’m planning on going out tonight to see if I can find Vlad sneaking around the city, and I might be able to learn a bit about this ghost problem that they’re having.”

Danny pulled a knee up to his chest and rested his chin upon it, furrowing his brow as he thought.

“We’ll come with you,” Sam automatically offered. By now the statement was more of a reflex than anything, which is why it was a surprise when Danny turned it down.

“No, tonight I’ll go on my own.” He shook his head, baby blue eyes half lidded as he watched his girlfriend’s rising protests.

“But Danny-”

“It’ll be a lot easier for me to sneak out on my own, and if Lancer suddenly decides to check our rooms during the night, it’ll be a little suspicious if we’re _all_ gone from our beds. At least if it’s just me, he could assume I’ve gone to the bathroom or something,” Danny pointed out, and his friends hated the logic in that statement. They theorized for a few more minutes before there was a knock on their door, and Lancer called for everyone to return to their rooms and go to bed. The girls sighed and left while Tucker got ready for bed. Danny waited just long enough for the hallway to be clear, so no one would see the light from his transformation rings, then went ghost.

“Have fun, Danny,” Tucker mumbled, his head hidden behind a mass of comfortable, feather filled blankets.

“Shut up, Tuck,” Danny said, although cheerily. He heard Tucker’s responding laugh as he phased invisibly into the hall. Danny quickly visited Sam’s room, giving her a goodnight kiss, before heading back towards the city.

For the first few hours he found absolutely nothing. Well, not _nothing_ , but nothing worthy of note. He did see a few weak ghosts that looked to be Ghost Zone natives flying around, but the Lamian soldiers were quick to detain them before Danny was even close enough to fight. After the first few encounters he simply gave up going after them, deciding he didn’t want to risk the soldiers turning their guns on him instead.

Danny was about to give up and go back to the mansion to catch some shuteye when his ghost sense reacted to a very familiar energy. He immediately veered off his course and dove into the narrow, winding streets below. He reached the location where he had sensed Vlad in record time and cast his sense out once more, searching for where the elder halfa had gone now. Danny found no trace of him. Dejected, he sighed and prepared once more to head back to the mansion, when movement at the edge of his vision caught his attention. Still invisible, he whipped around, green eyes boring into the shadows of the alley. With his enhanced vision, Danny was just barely able to see the glint of a medal, and the faded blue military dress of Lamian solider, before the figure disappeared around a corner.

Reacting instantly, Danny zoomed after it, but when he arrived at the corner, there was no one to be seen.


	6. The Scheme

“I don’t know, dude, we’ve been here for an hour,” Tucker complained from the far end of the alley. He had a set of crates stacked in his arms while Valerie searched the area where they had been a moment ago. Sam paced beside the walls, tracing her fingers in every crack in the bricks, searching for any abnormality, while Danny stood nearly motionless at the mouth of the alley. Only his eyes moved, flitting about rapidly as he scanned every crack, crevice, and cranny with his enhanced vision.

“Maybe it was just a ghost?”

“It wasn’t a ghost,” Danny shook his head. “I sensed Vlad, and Vlad doesn’t wear blue, Lamian military clothes.”

“What if a soldier was being overshadowed and just flew away?” Valerie offered, nodding to Tucker that he could put the crates down.

“No. My ghost sense is strong enough now that I would be able to tell if there was more than one ghost. It was a human.”

“Or Vlad overshadowing a human?” Said Tucker.

“No, Vlad was gone. I know what I’m talking about. I saw a completely human, not overshadowed, Lamian soldier in a location I sensed Vlad moments ago. To me, that’s a little suspicious,” Danny elaborated. He looked back over his shoulder, making sure no one had spotted them in the alley.

“So your first thought is trap door?” Sam asked, incredulous.

“ _Vlad’s_ involved. Have you seen his mansion? Trap door is the sanest of my theories,” Danny gave Sam a pointed look, and she reluctantly nodded.

“Our free time is almost over, and nothing is here, can we just go enjoy the local sights?” Tucker whined, eyes following a particularly attractive woman that passed by the mouth of the alley. Danny sighed, not wanting to give up, but there was nothing strange in the alley. Just a few back doors to the shops, and some trash.

“Fine. I have to meet Dells in an hour anyways.”

Tucker cheered like a child let out of school for summer and starting running out of the alley, shouting as he did so. “Local Lamian beauties, prepare to meet Tucker Foley, as in TF, as in Too Fine!”

“Of all the people in the _whole world_ that you could like, it’s seriously Too Fine over there?” Sam asked, glancing at Valerie with a raised eyebrow. The huntress crossed her arms and nodded to Danny.

“Girl, at least my boy’s alive,” Valerie smirked.

“At least my boy doesn’t have a questionable relationship with technology,” Sam countered. Both girls paused a moment, then burst out laughing as they followed Tucker out of the alley.

Danny ran to catch up and quickly pulled Sam back.

“What is it?” Sam asked.

“Dells knows your family. He mentioned it when we spoke yesterday, but I didn’t want to say anything yet,” Danny said.

Sam stiffened and looked away. “He knew my parents, before they moved. Whenever we came here during the summer, he would visit us, but that was before he became president.”

“Okay, that makes sense. Why don’t you trust him?” Danny pressed.

“Lamia isn’t a big country, and in the past it’s remained neutral during wars. It didn’t even have a military until a decade ago,” Sam explained, prompting Danny to look around and note the soldiers in the vicinity. “Lamia’s become increasingly militaristic over the course of his presidency.”

“And you don’t approve.” Danny nodded in understanding.

“No, I don’t. It’s suspicious.”

“I thought you didn’t care about a rich little country full of people like Paulina?” Danny asked with a grin.

“Fine, I do care. I _was_ technically born here,” Sam admitted with a huff.

“You were?”

“I know what you’re thinking. Dual citizenship, idiot,” Sam scoffed, then laughed at Danny’s offended expression. Danny blushed and gave her a light-hearted glare, for laughing and for reading his mind.

“Happy now?” Sam asked as her chuckles faded.

“A little satisfied, yes.”

“Good. Why did you want to know, anyways?”

“I needed to know how much you cared,” Danny explained vaguely. He hoped he could leave it at that, but Sam wasn’t having it.

“ _Why?_ ”

“Because it isn’t just the soldiers that wear blue.”

..

“So, uh, what kind of things do you want to know?” Danny asked, feeling a little awkward standing at the end of the long table. President Dells was sitting at the other end, and a few high ranking officials lined the sides, including General Ezra. In all honesty, Danny had no idea what he was doing, or what help he was supposed to be providing. He really hadn’t thought this decision through, stupid-hero complex.

It was worse now that he actually suspected Dells of working with Vlad. While the current situation gave him an advantage, he was struggling to act like he didn’t know something could be up.

“In all honesty, Danny, we’re lacking in even basic knowledge of ghosts,” Dells started in a surprising display of honesty.

“Sir, I don’t think it’s wise to tell the foreign boy that,” Ezra said, not bothering to mask the glare he threw Danny’s way.

“General Ezra, this ‘foreign boy’ is a guest in our country, and has offered us his help. The only way he can do that is if he knows what we need to know. Besides, he’s a friend of the Mansons.” Dells smiled at his general, but it didn’t look kindly at all.

“That doesn’t equal a pardon,” Ezra stated, obviously not satisfied, but said nothing more.

“Well, ghosts are the equivalent of what we believe human souls to be. Scientifically, they can’t truly be explained. Ghosts that are malevolent tend to be focused on one thing in particular that drives them and warps their behaviour. In Amity, we have a ghost of technology, a ghost of hunting, even a ghost of boxes.” Danny chuckled at how ridiculous that must have sounded. “They can only be harmed by weapons with anti-ecto properties, but considering you already have Dalv ghost hunting weapons, I guess you might already know that. You can’t actually kill a ghost, but if damaged enough, they can no longer hold a corporeal form and are reverted to nothing but a consciousness floating through the Ghost Zone.”

“So there is no way to get rid of the ghosts here permanently?” Dells asked.

“With enough force, I’m sure we can,” Ezra said, taking Danny’s “damaged enough” words to heart.

“Actually, you can’t. So far weapons made by humans aren’t enough to reduce a ghost to next to nothing without keeping up a constant barrage over several hours. You would have to capture every ghost, find a way to keep them restrained for a long amount of them, and then fire at them continuously,” Danny explained. “But you _could_ get rid of the ghosts if you figure out why they’re here, and how they even got here in the first place. A natural portal wouldn’t be open long enough for large amounts of ghosts to get through, and they do need to return to the Ghost Zone to replenish their energy. I doubt you have a manmade portal, so there must be another way they’re getting here.”

“And how is that relevant?” Ezra asked, apparently adamant to negate Danny on every point.

“It’s relevant because it means someone else is _bringing_ the ghosts here,” the halfa replied with emphasis. The men and women around the table immediately started talking.

“It’s the citizens, because of their unrest!”

“No, they’re uneasy _because_ of the ghosts. Someone is working against the country.”

“Are you suggesting a rebellion?”

“Against what? Our country has never been so peaceful!”

“It could be someone in the government.” The officials fell silent, watching each other warily, while Danny watched their reactions to the suggestion. Most looked ready to accuse whoever was sitting closest, but Dells himself bore a slightly defensive expression. Ezra was the only one who didn’t react, and spoke first.

“Why are we assuming that these ghosts are being brought in by locals? None of you are considering foreign influence.” Ezra’s word caused everyone to give pause, remembering the struggles their country had in the past due to foreign forces. Danny shuffled nervously with the knowledge that, at the moment, he was the only foreigner in the room. Not to mention the fact that he knew a very hostile, also foreign, halfa was currently scheming somewhere on the small island country. He contemplated telling the government officials before him this little bit of knowledge, but decided against it. Ezra would no doubt use Danny’s knowledge of Plasmius as a reason that he couldn’t be trusted.

Danny suddenly raised a hand to his mouth, hiding the blue wisp that slipped through his lips. Ezra noticed the movement, and was about to say something, but a moment later a small device on his belt started to beep rapidly. His hand immediately dropped to the device, and he stood up.

“General, what’s the problem?” Dells asked, moving to rise from his own chair. Danny noticed the president had a hand pressed against his pocket, and could hear a faint bussing.

“My soldier inform my there’s a particularly annoying ghost making an appearance. I will take care of it myself,” Ezra reassured his president. He adjusted the buttons on his jacket as he swiftly strode out of the room, Danny’s eyes glued to his back as he did so. It could be Vlad.

“Um, Mr. President, sir, I might be able to help more if I see the ghosts that are here?” Danny said quickly.

“Of course, but be careful Danny,” Dells conceded, standing up himself. Danny nodded quickly in thanks before rushing out of the room. He founded the closest enclosed area and transformed, reaching out with his ghost sense. He found Vlad easily and flew to his location.

Danny flew to a small, circular garden surrounded by trees on the presidential estate. He landed just outside it, changing back to human so Vlad wouldn’t sense him as easily, and turned invisible. Moving cautiously so as not to make any noise, Danny tiptoed to the edge of the trees and started climbing the nearest one. He cheated a little, using his flight to assist the climb, creeping from branch to branch until he found a solid perch. He couldn’t see Vlad yet, meaning the older halfa was hiding somewhere among the foliage.

Danny wondered what had drawn the Fruitloop to the garden in the first place when he heard soft footsteps coming from somewhere behind him. He craned his neck, trying to see who was approaching, but the lower branches blocked his view, and whoever it was didn’t step into the clearing.

“I thought I told you yesterday not to come here.” The voice sounded off, and Danny realized whoever Vlad was meeting was using a voice changer.

“Of course, but I thought you would like to,” Danny heard a quick shuffle and a soft sigh before Vlad continued, “to hear what I’ve recently learned.”

“What was that?” Vlad’s mystery partner asked.

“What?” Danny recognized the faux innocent tone, the one Vlad used on him whenever he was playing superior.

“The mist, I saw a red mist,” the man, Danny figured it was at least a man, continued with open distrust.

“I’m afraid you must be seeing things. There was nothing,” Vlad attempted to placate the man. He stepped forwards, coming into view between the leaves of the tree and, despite being invisible, Danny sunk back further into his hiding place. Despite what Vlad liked to think, he was losing his touch. It took far too long for the older halfa to sense Danny’s presence. Not only that, but judging by his the man’s reaction, Vlad’s partner didn’t know about his half-ghost status.

“What is it you wanted to tell me?”

“I’ve recently learned there’s a ghost in this country, disguised as a human, that could ruin our plans,” Vlad explained, his eyes roaming the clearing, pausing a little too long on the spot where Danny was hiding. Okay, maybe Vlad hadn’t lost that much yet.

“I was unaware that ghosts could do such a thing,” the partner sounded suspicious, and for some reason, Danny doubted that suspicion was towards Vlad.

“It’s rare, but there are a few ghosts able to hide their form as a human. It’s quite impressive, really, how _alive_ they seem while hidden.” Vlad grinned, causing Danny to cringe. Things would not be going well for him if he ended up alone with this mysterious partner.

“And this ghost is not like the others?”

“I’m afraid not, he wouldn’t be so easily persuaded. The best thing would be to eliminate him as an obstacle.”

“Would you not be able to do this yourself?”

“Remember, we agreed I’m not supposed to be here. I can’t really go around searching for a ghost disguised as a teenage boy.”

Danny cursed Vlad several times over in his head.

The mystery partner made a noise of displeasure before continuing. “Very well. But you need to send stronger ghosts. The soldiers are defeating them too easily, and their faith remains strong.”

“So it’s agreed.” Vlad smiled pleasantly, holding out his hand. The mystery partner reached out to give it a brief, firm shake, and Danny glimpsed a blue sleeve. “I certainly hope the payment you provide is as worthwhile as you make it out to be.”

“Of course,” the man confirmed

Vlad left the garden first, while his partner remained standing firm for a few short seconds before leaving himself. Danny wanted to follow, see who the mystery man was, but couldn’t risk being heard, and he couldn’t go ghost without his transformation light being seen. But with his advanced hearing, he easily heard the words softly spoken while the man left.

“A death sentence for organizing the assassination of a prestigious government figure. A very worthwhile payment.”


	7. The Betrayal

There were three things Danny realized earlier whilst sitting in the tree above the now empty clearing. First, he should have realized that of course Vlad was involved. He’d expected it, considered it, but until that moment still had his doubts. They were unwarranted. As much as Danny hated to admit it, Vlad was smart. If he desired money from a foreign source, Lamia was the perfect choice with their massive mining operations for precious stones. Dells didn’t seem like the kind of man that would make dealings with Vlad, but then again, he should know more than anyone how easy it is to hide your true self. Danny decided he wasn’t surprised the president was willing to associate with the billionaire for personal gain, because what else could Vlad offer? If what Sam said about the militarization of the country was true, then both men had similar interests. Power was a temptation not easily avoided.

The second thing Danny realized after officially discovering the partnership, is that Dells planned betrayal wasn’t really a surprise. The only way a high profile assassination was going to succeed is if there was a scapegoat to pin all the blame on. Vlad posed to be the perfect option. An outsider on a quest for riches, with a fair amount of contact with ghosts, would easily be able to arrange something like this.

Lastly, and Danny really scolded himself not realizing this until an ectoblast soared from the bushes, is that he should have known Vlad would come back and face Danny after the meeting was over. But he didn’t, and was thoroughly surprised when a pink ball of energy exploded beside him, sending him tumbling out of the tree. Danny lay dazed for a moment, sprawled out and vulnerable to attack, when another blast hit him in his exposed back. He gave a brief cry of pain before rolling over and scrambling to his feet.

Just as he started to transform, Vlad lashed out and a rope of ectoplasm soared through the clearing to pin Danny’s arms to his side. He struggled against the bindings, twisting his hands around to shoot his own green blasts. But Vlad sent another constricting attack his way and pinned his hands together, palms facing inwards.

“So what now, Plasmius? Going to hand me over to your friend back there?” Danny jerked his head in the direction the president had walked off.

“Of course not, little badger. My business partner can’t very well be distracted with tracking you down if I simply hand you over.” Vlad grinned.

“He’s going to betray you, you know.” Danny scowled. He was a little surprised when Vlad burst out laughing

“I have no doubt about that, Daniel. His plan could hardly succeed if he didn’t.”

“And what plan would that be?” Danny narrowed his eyes at the older halfa, not really expecting a reply.

“It’s quite simple. He just wants a little more power to himself.”

“That’s obvious enough, but _what_ power?” Danny spat.

“If I have to spell it out for you.” Vlad shook his head and sighed. “Military conquest, Daniel. When you’re already the most powerful man in a country, and you crave more, you have to go somewhere else to get it. It’s all fairly simple, really. An increasing number of ghost attacks creates unrest among the citizens and they start to lose faith, even if they don’t want to. Such a shame it will be when the ‘ghosts’ finally kill an important political figure, and it all turns out to have been a ploy for the assassination to take place. Of course, there needs to be an assassin, so they know on whom to declare war. I have no doubt that, following the tragic day, evidence will come to light revealing I was contracted by one of Lamia’s dear neighbours to help with their plot. The citizen’s faith will be restored, and they will rally around a common enemy.”

“So Dells is going to kill someone, blame it all on you, and start World War III,” Danny clarified.

There was a beat of silence before Vlad responded with a chuckle. “Exactly. If you weren’t such a poor student, you may have figured it out yourself.”

“And why are you telling me all of this?”

“It’s chess, Daniel. Sacrifices must be made.”

“I can’t really see how this could benefit you at all.” Danny scowled, trying to follow Vlad’s line of thought.

“Of course you don’t, you’re still just a child.”

Tired of Vlad’s superior attitude, Danny used the last thing he could think of. “If Dells finds out my secret, there’s nothing stopping me from telling yours.”

The raven-haired boy gave a triumphant grin, sure that he’d won. There was no way that Vlad would risk his secret, since he was working so hard to keep it.

“There is, just one thing, stopping you.”

Danny’s smile fell from his face.

“You’re chance at survival. Do have fun, little badger. It would be a shame if something happened that you couldn’t come back from.”

Vlad transformed and flew away, and only once he was far enough away that Danny couldn’t follow did the ectoplasm binding him disperse. Danny waited a moment, contemplating what he should do next. Making a decision, he transformed and turned invisible, flying back to the presidential building. He stuck his head through the wall of the meeting room, thankful when no ghost alarms went off. He scanned the table, noting neither Dells nor the general had returned. Ezra was probably scouring the grounds for Vlad, or whatever ghost had set off an alarm.

Danny found an empty room, transformed back, and headed back to the meeting. He’d just put his hand on the doorknob when Ezra walked around the corner. The general’s gaze narrowed.

“Why are you out here?” He asked accusingly.

“Looking for the ghost,” Danny answered. “I thought I could help more if I knew what you were facing. But I, uh, got lost. Just found my way back.”

“A plausible excuse.”

“A plausible truth,” Danny falsely corrected. “Because that’s what it is.”

“Of course,” the general said and walked past Danny. The men inside only paused briefly upon their entrance, before resuming their discussions.

“General,” Danny said before Ezra could walk away. He glanced at the others, and lowered his voice so they couldn’t hear. “About the president, I think he’s-”

Before he could finish his sentence, the president himself stepped into the room.

“Ah, Ezra!” Dells smiled as he reclaimed his seat. “I assume the ghost was taken care of?”

“It’s no longer on the premises,” Ezra assured him. Danny frowned, that didn’t sound like he’d ‘taken care’ of it. Chances were, Ezra’s soldiers sensed Vlad when he was arriving. Now that he was gone, and Danny wasn’t in his ghost form, there was nothing to sense.

“Excellent. Considering the hour, I see no point in continuing the meet,” Dells said. “If possible, would you be able to join us once again tomorrow after your activities?”

“Yeah.” Danny nodded and stepped aside as the various officials filed out of the room. Both Dells and Ezra held back, and soon they were alone. The halfa was hoping to divulge his suspicions to the general. It would be a long shot, since the man seemed intent on blaming outsiders, and was very loyal to his president. But he had to tell someone.

“Oh, Danny, I hope following Ezra after the ghost proved useful,” Dells said cheerfully.

“He did?” Ezra asked, and Danny gulped, realizing the fault in his story. It was a minor one, but if the president asked Ezra anything, he could be on be in the track to learning Danny’s identity. “It’s a shame you got lost Daniel, sorry, _Danny_. I’m sure your expertise could have been useful to us. Now, I think your friends at the estate will be missing you.”

“Yeah…” Danny nodded slowly and walked briskly out of the room, throwing one last look at the two leaders as he did so. Despite leaving the presidential estate much earlier than intended, Danny didn’t make it back to the guest house until late. He opted to fly back rather than take on of the cars Dells offered, and along way was distracted numerous time. Apparently Vlad had already filled the request for stronger ghosts, which was astonishing. Danny and the others had eliminated the possibility of a portal to the Ghost Zone existing on the island country, which would be the fastest method of welcoming ghosts, because of the need for presidential approval. But if Vlad was working _with_ the president, he definitely had it. And the construction could be hidden.

The portal didn’t have to be anywhere in the city. From what Danny learned, ghosts weren’t just occupying the capital, but they were seen in other towns all around the country.

The patrolling soldiers still had enough power to maintain the ghostly threat, so Danny focused his efforts on location the portal. Using his sense, he tried to pinpoint locations with higher concentrations of ghostly energy. He found nothing, not that he expected to at this time, and it could no longer be counted as late when he finally floated through the wall into the room he and Tucker shared.

Danny prepared to drop onto the couch piled with blankets and pillows. He and Tucker decided to alternate taking turns between it and the bed every night until the end of their trip, and tonight he had the couch. He started to drop onto the cushions, but noticed at the last second that Tucker was actually lying there. On instinct, Danny kicked out against the back of the couch, sending him toppling to the floor instead of on his friend. His momentum brought him rolling across the floor until he was halted by the base of the bed.

“Ow!” Danny shouted, rubbing his head after it bounced off the wooden board. He felt the covers brushing his dark hair shift as whoever lay there sat up.

“Danny?”

The halfa sat up on his knees. “Hey, Sam. Sorry to wake you.”

“What the hell, Danny, where were you?” Sam hissed, crawling over to the side of the bed. They both heard movement from the couch as Tucker woke up as well.

“Dude, it’s so late, what are you doing?” Tucker asked groggily, shoving the pile of blankets off of him.

“It’s not late, Tuck, it’s early,” Danny answered.

“Seriously?” Tucker glanced at the clock on the bedside table. “Dang. If you guys are going to be so noisy, I’m going to Sam’s room.”

“We’re not being noisy,” Danny whispered. “I just want to go to sleep anyways, so you don’t need to leave.”

“Right, and where will you sleep? I’m not cuddling up with you here, so that just leaves the bed. And there’s no way I’m staying in here with you two.” Tucker grinned, draping one of the blankets around his shoulders like a cape.

“Tucker, gross.” Sam chucked a pillow at the techno-geek, and he dodged sloppily, the corner of it sliding off his arm.

“Two questions, Sam. Would you get up and make the trek back to your room?”

“No way, this bed is bigger,” Sam said, gathering the puffy comforter up to her chest.

“Right. Second question, do I need to wake you guys up in the morning, or will you both still be awake?”

“Tucker!” Sam and Danny shouted in unison. Sam threw another pillow after their fleeing friend, while Danny took the dramatic measure and a relatively harmless ectoblast soared from his palm. Relatively being the operative word. They heard Tucker yelp as he pulled the door shut, and Sam muttered a few choice obscenities as Tucker’s footsteps faded.

“Danny.”

“What?”

“Get off the floor.”

“Hm? Oh, yeah.” Danny climbed onto the bed, dropping down beside Sam.

“So, my earlier question. What happened to make you so late?”

“Trying to locate the source of the ghosts, but that’s not the important part. Vlad and Dells are working together, I overheard a meeting. They’re planning an assassination, to start a war.”

“What?” Sam’s voice was laced with disbelief, and Danny understood why. At one point in her life, Dells had probably been like an uncle to her. “Did you tell anyone?”

“I was going to tell Ezra, but then Dells came in, and Vlad pretty much told him who I am.”

“You do know you could just tell Dells Vlad’s secret, right?” Sam asked, used to dealing with a C student.

“I know that!” Danny gasped defensively. “But Vlad said something, confusing, so I won’t reveal him yet.”

“Fair enough. But what about Vlad and Dells? Do you know what kind of deal they have?”

Danny flopped backwards onto the bed, stretching his arms above his head. “Not exactly, just that Dells is going to cross Vlad and frame him for everything, and Vlad already expected this. I’m not sure what he’s getting out of this, but I’m guessing it’s money.”

“We have to do something.” Sam said as she lay back down.

“I know. I’m meeting Dells again tomorrow. I’ll try and speak to Ezra, or learn more about what’s going on. Try to avoid capture.” Danny sighed and rolled onto his stomach.

“You won’t _try_ , you _will_. I don’t exactly like what happens whenever people related to any form of government get their hands on you.” Sam scowled, her hand brushing over Danny’s shoulder, where a rather nasty scar was hidden beneath his jumpsuit.

Danny stiffened and changed back to human, the edges of the old wound peeking out from beneath his shirt collar. He pressed his face into the pillow, feeling Sam’s hand trail across the puckered skin, and fell asleep.


	8. The Black-Haired Ghost

Danny didn’t sleep long, and was already awake long before the door to the room opened around seven that morning. Apparently Tucker decided to follow through with his offer of being a human alarm clock, something he rarely ever did.

“Whoa, dude, I was joking when I said I thought you’d still be awake,” Tucker said when he walked into the room, dramatically throwing a hand over his eyes and earning him a sharp glare from the halfa.

“I woke up early. Sam’s still sleeping,” Danny whispered, motioning to the softly breathing Goth. A yawn forced its way out his mouth and he quickly rubbed his eyes.

“I’m guessing ‘woke up early’ means ‘I slept for an hour, then stayed awake the rest of the night’?” Tucker waded through the blankets and pillows still crowded around the couch and flopped down onto the plush cushions

“I’m fine.” Danny waved off Tucker’s concern as he slid from the bed, rummaging through his bag to find a fresh change of clothes. He took his time heading into the bathroom, showering, and changing. By the time he was done Sam had already woken up, managed to change and shower in her own room, and returned.

“Are you going to tell Ezra today?” Sam pulled her fingers through her dark hair.

“Tell Ezra what?” Tucker asked.

Danny quickly filled him in on the meeting he witnessed last night, giving more detail than he’d provided for Sam yesterday. “I’m supposed to meet with Dells again today, so I’ll try to tell Ezra then.”

“Why not before then?”                                                                             

“I’m pretty sure Vlad will take precautions so I can’t approach anyone I could warn unless it’s during one of my arranged meetings, where it’s unavoidable. Besides, I’m only actually allowed on the presidential estate for those meetings. It’s a government, Tuck, they’re not just gonna let me in for no reason.”

“Damn, that would have been cool,” Tucker grumbled. “And until then?”

“Isn’t obvious, Tucker?” Sam asked, looking at the techno-geek in mock surprise.

“Yeah, Tuck, you of all people should know,” Danny added, and the couple smirked.

“What? What should I know?” Tucker perked up, getting a little annoyed.

“Should we tell him?”

“I don’t know, if he can’t figure it out for himself…” Danny shrugged, trailing off.

“Dude, just answer the question!” Tucker almost shouted, while his friends started snickering.

“Until then, we do nothing,” Danny finally revealed.

“What?!”

“We tour the city, spend the day sightseeing, act like nothing is wrong. We’re just a couple students on a class trip in a ghost infested country, we know nothing about any presidential coup.”

“There’s no such thing as a ‘presidential coup’. You know what a coup is, write?” Sam asked in a teasing voice.

“Um… When the government is doing something bad?”

“Not even close. It’s when people try to take over the government,” Sam corrected.

“Oh. But I was close!” Danny grinned.

“Yeah, sure.” Sam rolled her eyes and punched Danny lightly.

“Hold on, lovebirds! We’re going to do nothing?” Tucker asked.

“Pretty much, yeah. If we act weird, then the class could notice and, despite what those idiots say, they really do pay a weird amount of attention to us. And we’re _not_ loverbirds.”

“You’re dating, I should be allowed to say it!” Tucker protested. “What about Valerie?”

“Tell her while we’re out ‘sightseeing’. I want to take one more look in that alley, but you guys don’t need to come with me this time.” Danny ruffled up his hair and gave his head a sharp shake, letting his obsidian locks settle in their usual messy fashion.

“You don’t want us to help look,” Sam stated, sounding a little offended.

“That’s not it. We have to act normal, remember? We don’t have any free time today, which means no time to slip away from the group. Lancer will be constantly checking to make sure we’re all together. I’m the only one that can leave the group without suspicion. I can just tell him I’m meeting with Dells or something.”

His friends hated how logical the plan was.

“Better than the bathroom excuse,” Tucker grumbled.

“I’ll have you know, I put a lot of thought into that excuse,” Danny defended himself.

“Right. And now everyone in school thinks you have some weird medical condition.” Tucker smirked.

“Like you didn’t start that rumour,” Danny shot back. “And it’s better that than the truth.”

“Fine, but if you find something, you better contact us.” Sam shoved a set of Fenton Phones into Danny’s hands, and he nodded. With their vague plan in place, the trio went downstairs for breakfast, Tucker breaking away for a few minutes to tell Valerie what happened. Over breakfast, Team Phantom set up a loose plan. Danny would stick with the group until around noon, before informing Lancer he had to meet with Dells earlier than planned. It would give him a few hours to search the area, as well as search for Vlad’s portal, before actually having to meet Dells. Danny was hoping he could stumble across Ezra and let the man in on his discovery, but doubted he could ever be so lucky.

Since they weren’t familiar with Lamia’s radio equipment, or monitored frequencies, they decided only Danny would use the Fenton Phones, and only to tell them if he found something. They didn’t want to alert Dells on what they were doing. There had been a long argument about what Danny should do if he did, and he reluctantly promised not to do anything on his own.

With the plan set, Team Phantom proceeded to do nothing for the rest of the morning. They acted like the normal, reclusive group they were. Hanging at the back of the class, Danny and Sam walking hand in hand, Tucker and Valerie having a few blush-worthy moments the raven couple made not to tease them on later.

Danny constantly glanced down at his watch, waiting for the moment he could leave. While they decided to do nothing in order to maintain appearances, he didn’t like it. If Danny could have his way, he would have been searching the alley all morning, or at least looking for Vlad to try and beat more of the plan out of him. Instead he continued to fidget nervously until Lancer called for lunch.

“Okay, class! You have half an hour in this area to find a place to eat. We’ll meet back here at twelve-thirty. Until then, don’t stray too far from this area.” The students all bobbed their heads and started breaking off into their separate groups.

“I’ll see you guys later,” Danny said quietly, giving Sam a quick kiss before approaching Lancer. “Uh, Mr. Lancer? I totally forgot to tell you this before, but President Dells wanted to meet me a little earlier today. Really soon, actually, so I guess I’ll be leaving the group here.”

“Is that so, Mr. Fenton? Where’s the car that was sent to pick you up yesterday?” Lancer asked, glancing down the street.

“Not here. I wasn’t sure where we’d be, so we set up a meeting point, which is why I sort of need to leave now.” Danny rubbed the back of his neck, glancing at his teacher, while feeling impressed with himself. IT wasn’t often he was able to lie so well without stumbling through it.

“Alright, Daniel. I’m assuming we’ll see you back at the estate this evening?”

“Uh, yeah, you will.” Danny nodded quickly. It hadn’t missed his attention that no one had been waiting for him last night, and the halfa wondered if Lancer even noticed he hadn’t been at the estate at all. Honestly, it wouldn’t be surprising. Danny knew the English teacher had given up on him, a fact that made his life much easier, actually.

Permission granted, Danny strayed from the group. He went to the first secluded location he could find, transformed, and flew to the alley. He remained invisible the entire time, and repeated yesterday’s process. He scoured every inch of the alley, moving the same creates as Tucker, and checking the same loose bricks as Sam. His search was painstakingly detailed, but after almost an hour and a half he once again came up with nothing. Searching a new tactic, Danny briefly visited the stores lining the alley. He lingered outside the bakery and antique shop, whose backdoors led into the alley. Standing before the windows, both doors were easily visible at the back of the shops.

Danny felt compelled to stare longer than was logically necessary. Invisible and intangible to the street-goers, he tapped his foot and practically glared through the windows. After several tense minutes his eyes widened and he smacked himself on the forehead.

“Of course!” Danny’s sudden outburst startled a few citizens, whose eyes were drawn to the empty spot on the street. Noticing the distinct lack of a person to make the cry, one woman scurried towards the closest soldier. But Danny was already behind the buildings once again. He faced the backdoors of the bakery and antique shop, focusing on the third door between them. He scolded himself for not noticing it before. There was an odd gap between the shop walls, despite the outer façade being one solid surface, and he’d hardly paid attention to the presence of the third door. But now the halfa could clearly see it led into neither shop.

Danny first tested to see if it was locked, unsurprised to find it was, then pressed a ghostly hand against its surface and attempted to phase through. He couldn’t do it.

“Ghost proof,” Danny mused. Making sure no one was in sight, he transformed back to human and dug into the pocket of his black cargo pants, pulling out a small leather case. Inside was an array of tools used for lock picking, a skill he acquired for the next time Walker decided to throw him in jail. It was, really, quite useful. He crouched down and got to work on the lock.

“Hey, you!”

Danny jumped as he slid the deadbolt open, and looked at the soldier standing at the mouth of the alley. Danny’s face was shadowed by the alley walls, and he was immediately thank for that fact as he the squinting soldier to be Lieutenant Fable. The lieutenant had a rapidly flashing ghost detector thrust out before him.

Danny ripped his tools from the lock and took off in the opposite direction. He could hear Fable speaking into a radio as he gave chase.

“Ghost sensors are going off in the south alley, I’m pursuing the suspected ghost.”

Fable couldn’t be allowed to see his face, it would ruin everything.

“Sorry,” Danny whispered. Pulling up his shirt to cover his face, he spun and jumped, firing a relatively harmless ectoblast at Fable. Danny’s aim was true, and the green energy splashed across the soldier’s face, creating an effective blindfold.

Transforming as he flew upwards, Danny turned invisible and landed on the roof. He waited just long enough to see Fable was fine and shot into the sky. It was almost four, but there were still three hours his meeting with Dells. In all likelihood he wouldn’t be able to return to the alley that evening. Soldiers would be swarming the area. No ghost in the city would be stupid enough to go there now.

Danny flew high above, eyes darting over the spiderweb of streets, then to the empty land beyond the city limits. In the way of plant life, Lamia didn’t have much. From their quick, last minute lessons before the trip, the halfa knew there was one relatively small forest planted and maintained by the government. The country’s soil didn’t run deep, and underneath a few feet of dirt started the rocks. Considering the country’s wealth came from its mining operations and not farming, that was probably a good thing. The entire population was centered around the capital, and the small mining towns scattered across the island.

Originally, Danny and the others theorized the ghost portal had to be outside the city, since its construction would be highly noticeable. But with Dells’ help it could be anywhere. Inside the city, outside it. Hidden in one of the many tapped out mines, in a cave along the eastern cliffs, or even in the heart of their national forest. He couldn’t just _look_ for it.

Danny considered rejoining the class, but Lancer would probably question why he’s back. He could follow them invisibly, tag along with his friends, but using his powers would send any ghost detectors in the area haywire. That’s what he’d been doing on the plane. And he may or may not have been fading in and out of the visible spectrum when Fable stumbled across him. It was sort of a nervous ticked he’d developed whenever he was hoping not to be seen. Jazz had been trying to help him overcome it, but obviously those attempts weren’t successful yet.

With limited options, Danny resorted to patrolling the outskirts of the city, hoping to find some ghosts to either beat up, or lead him to the portal. He had no luck on either front. After his patrol their first night in the city, ghosts seemed to be avoiding him. Probably Vlad’s doing.

As it neared seven o’clock, Danny flew towards the presidential estate. He landed a few streets away, fingers curling around the letter in his pocket. Dells had given it to him at the start of their first meeting. It allowed him access onto the estate, whoever was guarding the door just had to double check that he had an appointment. He was a little early at this point, but not by much, so he’d probably still be let in.

When Danny handed over the letter, the soldier on duty gave him a doubtful state, but followed through with checking its validity anyways.

“You can go in,” the soldier huffed, and Danny gave him a jaunty wave as he stepped through the opening gate. The action succeeded in making the soldier’s eye twitch in annoyance. If there was one thing Danny was good at, besides ghost fighting, it’s pissing off the people that don’t like him.

He headed straight for the meeting room, receiving a few stares along the way. Wearing cargo pants and a dark gray button-up, Danny looked well out of place in the lavish halls. He almost wished he had the suit he wore when working with Mr. Manson. _Almost._ Sitting at the empty table, the halfa closed his eyes and cast out his sense, looking for Vlad. The vampiric half-ghost wasn’t anywhere near the grounds, which was a massive relief.

Danny only had to wait a few minutes before Dells entered, alone. He closed the door and moved to the seat opposite the high schooler.

“Are the others – the officials, not coming?” Danny asked, eyeing the closed door.

“No. I have another meeting soon, so this one will be short. They aren’t needed her today,” Dells said, casually waving off the question.

“And General Ezra?” Danny had really been hoping to steal a moment and talk to the man.

“I requested he not come. What we’re discussing today doesn’t concern him.”

Danny immediately felt nervous. Dells certainly looked kind, but he’d read enough comic books to know lots of smiles hid snake-like fiends. Just look at the Lunch Lady. Okay, maybe she wasn’t _snake-like_ , and she wasn’t very _fiendish_ , but she was definitely two-faced. He looked at the man before him, and tried to compare him with any type of person Sam would consider an uncle, because that had to be what she once thought of him, in order for Dells change in character to affect her this much.

“Um, what did you want to know?” Danny asked, trying to hide his nervousness.

“When a ghost ‘overshadows’ someone, what happens?”

“The ghost possesses them. They can control a person’s body, and have access to a limited portion of their memories. But a possessed person’s eyes will always change, so will there voice. So if you know what to look for, it’s really obvious.” Danny could have been seeing things, but as he spoke, it almost seemed like Dells was examining him.

“Alright. We’ve mostly been seeing rather generic ghosts, here in Lamia. I was wondering if they could take on other forms?” Dells leaned back, hands folded in his lap, but his gaze was intense.

“They can, actually. There’s a lot of variety in Amity. Some ghosts are even humanoid, but you can always tell them apart by their skin tone, or eyes,” Danny answered truthfully.

“How humanoid?”

“Well, there’s this one ghost, Ember, that has a human appearance. But her skin is grey, and her hair is fire. There’s Technus, but he has green skin, and no legs. Just a tail. There’s a few more like him.”

“There are none that could pass as a human?” Dells pressed, and Danny was feeling increasingly uncomfortable with the line of questioning.

“Uh, there’s one, called Spectra. She paraded as a counsellor in my school. She looked human, but she would have set off any ghost alarms. And she needed a constant food source in order to maintain her appearance.”

“What about shapeshifting abilities?”

Danny started to fidget, wishing he could be anywhere but there at the moment. He could just lie and tell Dells he didn’t know anything. But if the man spoke to Vlad, and learned he lied to him? It would automatically make Danny suspicious. He couldn’t risk it.

“There’s two, Bertrand and Amorpho. But Bertrand also needs a constant food source to appear human, and Amorpho has red eyes, no matter what he looks like.”

“I see.” Dells nodded slowly, gaze sliding around the room as his thoughts absorbed him. “Do any of these ghosts have black hair?”

“I – what?” Danny asked intelligently.

“One of my soldiers, I believe you’ve met Lieutenant Fable, was tracking a ghost’s lingering signature. He couldn’t see the source properly, but swore it looked human, and had black hair,” Dells elaborated. In his mind, Danny let loose every curse he knew. Of course Fable, the dedicated soldier, would report back to the president himself about any suspicious activity. And of course he would do it as soon as possible.

“Do you know for sure it was a ghost?” Maybe Danny still had a chance to explain it away. A local boy, who happened to be where a ghost just passed through.

“Lieutenant Fable is adamant. He was attacked with – ectoplasm, is that right? And the figure flew away.”

Now Danny was cursing himself. He couldn’t have done the logical thing and just turned invisible before flying, _no_. He had to attack the man, then flee, _then_ turn invisible. If he weren’t a C student, he would have thought of that. “Do you know anything else about it?”

“Not really, just that it looked young.”

It Danny were alone, he’d be tearing his hair out for just how _stupid_ he’d been. When he got back, Sam was going to give him an earful. Valerie… she probably would have done the same thing as Danny, they could both be a little trigger happy. Tucker would hopefully understand Danny’s logic, so he had that going for him. But not a lot else.

“It doesn’t sound like any ghost I know,” Danny stated truthfully. Because Danny _Fenton_ wasn’t the ghost. At least he technically wasn’t, just because ghost trackers locked on to him, and ghost alarms went off when he was around, and all his enemies still called him a ghost… Maybe he was pushing the label thing a little much.

“That’s a shame. I was told there might be a ghost in our midst who could hide himself.” Dells shrugged. “I understand you will be out of the city for the next two days?”

“Oh, uh, yeah. We’re doing a driving tour.” Danny nodded.

“Then we’ll arrange a meeting when you return. I think that’s all we’ll need for today.”

Danny nodded again as Dells pushed away from the table, waving for him to leave first. Danny stuttered out a thank you and took off down the hall, hoping he could at least waste a moment or two searching for the general. But Dells insisted on guiding him out.

“Thank you, Mr. President, but it’s not really necessary,” Danny protested.

“Of course it is.” Dells smiled. Danny grimaced, and spotted Ezra coming towards them.

“General!” Danny squeaked.

“ _Danny_ ,” Ezra said sternly. He joined them in walking towards the entrance, keeping pace with Dells. “Mr. President, there’s something I’d like to discuss with you once you’re done.”

“I was hoping to speak with you,” Dells replied. They reached the door, and Ezra opened it while Dells placed a hand on Danny’s shoulder. “Until next time, Danny.”

The president gently pushed him out the door, and it shut behind him. Danny stumbled on the steps, gaping at the ground. He’d been so close. He could sneak back inside, follow Ezra, and tell him then. But who knew how long that meeting would take, and Danny promised to return as soon as he was done.

“I really think presidential coup should be a thing,” Danny mumbled as he took off towards the front gate.


	9. The Abaddon and International Criminals

As the class filed onto the tour bus the next morning, Danny couldn’t help but feel a little anxious. Not only was Amity Park, and its potential state of disarray constantly on the back of his mind, but now he’d be worried Lamia’s capital as well. At least when it came to Amity, he could be rest assured Vlad wasn’t there to wreak havoc. The same could not be said for here.

“Dude, _relax_ ,” Tucker drawled, sinking into his seat. Team Phantom had positioned themselves near the middle of the bus. Normally, when stuck with the rest of their class, they relegated themselves to the place farthest back from everyone else. But on a tour bus, where they would be spending the majority of their day, with over a dozen other teenagers where the only cramped bathroom is shoved at the back of the bus, the middle was the safest place to sit without drawing attention to themselves. Tucker and Valerie were sitting behind, while Sam and Danny were in front, craning their heads back to look at their friends.

“Easy for you to say,” Danny muttered, watching the streets intently as they drove through the city. They tour guide, Elaine, stood at the front of the bus giving them a similar spiel to the one when they first arrived, with a little more detail.

“Yeah, it is easy. Because this isn’t our country, so it isn’t our problem. Aren’t there, like, operating border limitations or something that say you can’t do your hero thing here?” Tucker asked.

“That’s for governments and military action,” Valerie corrected him. “I don’t think Danny’s ‘hero thing’ counts.”

“And it is my problem, because it’s _my_ nemesis,” Danny reminded him.

“Oh, right.”

“That doesn’t mean you can’t relax,” Sam said. “It’s only two days around the country, everything will be fine.”

“Yeah, man. What could happen in two days?”

The moment the words left Tucker’s mouth the others started groaning. He sat up abruptly and gave them all indignant glares. “I am _not_ bad luck, and I didn’t just jinx us. It was Johnny’s Shadow! Will you please stop saying that all the time?”

“Say what? Is it something bad?” Danny asked innocently, nudging Sam.

“It could be, knowing his luck.” Sam nodded solemnly. With her arm draped across the shoulder of her chair, she tapped Valerie’s back lightly. The Red Huntress understood immediately.

“What is it we should stop saying, Tuck?”

This time Tucker groaned, dropping his head in his hands. “I’ve spent a day dressed as _Sam_ to help you guys skip class, and _that one time_ is the only thing you guys ever remember?”

“Well, it was two or three times, technically. You know, with the truck, and the bees, and all that,” Danny said. “But you’re right, we don’t bring up your cross dressing enough. How’d you like the skirt?”

“I apparently have the legs for it,” Tucker joked. “It never would have taken Lancer that long to figure me out otherwise.”

Danny laughed sharply, and twisted around to sit properly in his seat while Sam and the others kept talking. They were out of the city now and heading towards the coast. Elaine was back in her seat, talking to a few eager students, while everyone else was absorbed in their own conversations. Like a class trip was supposed to be. It was nice, and it probably wouldn’t last.

Their destination for the day was a small town outside the national forest, which they would visit tomorrow. Along the way they’d stop at historical sights, and they had a tour of a WWII museum at some point. Danny could at least try and enjoy himself.

…

Despite the small size of the country, the drive to their first destination felt long, and many students were restless by the time they reached the coastal city. It was about the same size as the capital, with a large port and several fisheries. The bus parked near a series of piers, and Elaine stood up before the students could start moving.

“Can everyone see the pier?” She asked.

The class crowded around the windows, looking out at the boardwalks stretching over the water. A chorus of “yeps “and “yesses” rang through the bus.

“On Pier Seventeen is a retired warship from the Royal Navy. Lamia remained a neutral country throughout both World Wars, and during that time many countries took advantage of its location for docking. In case you didn’t know, belligerent countries can dock their ships at neutral countries for up to twenty-four hours during war time. Because of Lamia’s lack of a military at the time, it was not uncommon for some ships to stay longer than twenty-four hours, which increased tensions between the countries,” Elaine explained. A few students were listening raptly, while many more continued to stare out at the large battleship, more interested in its guns than its history. “The Abaddon was a prize ship seized by the Kriegsmarine, the navy of Nazi Germany, in Lamia’s territorial waters. As required, the ship was surrendered to Lamia, who released the crew to the next Allied Powers ship docking in the port. The ship was damaged during a skirmish that broke out between enemy troops occupying the port at the same time, and it was immediately retired and moved to the pier.”

“Cool ship, though,” Tucker muttered, and Danny and Valerie nodded in agreement. Sam rolled her eyes at the three of them.

“We have an hour at the pier, to explore the ship or visit the boardwalk if you’d like. Remember to stay with your travel buddies, and meet back here when you’re finished so we can move on to the next city,” Elaine finished explaining.

“To the ship?” Sam asked when they hopped off the bus.

“To the ship!” Tucker declared, and took off.

“We should probably follow him.” Valerie sighed and started after the techno-geek, with Sam and Danny right behind her.

“So why did Dells even start the military?” Danny asked while they walked.

“I don’t know. I guess for his great evil plan of starting a third world war.” Sam shook her head. “I just don’t get it. A lot of locals aren’t big fans of the rest of Europe, because of how poorly Lamians were treated during World War II, but Dells was never one of those people. He always said war time changed people, made them fearful.”

“How were Lamians treated?”

“Well, both Allies and Axis thought Lamia was secretly helping the enemy. Since it is right in the middle of everything, it was hard to believe they’d successfully stay out of it. Lamians were treated like the enemy from both sides, even though they weren’t.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so interested in recent history,” Danny teased.

“Oh, shut up. You’d probably know a lot about a different country if your parents were from there,” Sam countered.

“I really wouldn’t. I’m a C/B student, remember? The only thing I know about my family right now is that we used to have Nightingale in our name.” Danny laughed, recalling Jack Fenton-Nightingale.

“Too bad it was dropped. Daniel Nightingale sounds cool.”

“Maybe I can change it when I’m eighteen.”

“Definitely. I’d rather be a Nightingale than a Fenton.”

Danny’s steps faltered, and he smiled at his girlfriend as she kept walking, completely oblivious of what she had just implied. They caught up to Valerie and Tucker just outside the ship. A few of their classmates were already wandering around on the deck, and Danny quickly stepped out of the way of a crumpled piece of paper Dash chucked at him over the edge of the ship.

“Stop littering!” Sam yelled, grabbing the paper and tossing it into a nearby blue bin. “Idiot.”

“Let’s go,” Danny prompted, stepping onto the ramp leading to the top deck.

“Do you think the War Ghost would know this ship?” Tucker asked, already pulling out his phone to take pictures.

“Maybe. He’s knows lots of ships.” Danny shrugged and peered over the railing. He didn’t like boats when he was younger, although that was mostly because his father’s reckless driving was twice as bad when it came to seafaring equipment. He had a few unfortunate incidents as a child when he was flung overboard. Danny still wasn’t a fan. “Want to look inside?”

“Sure. They’ll be out here a while.” Sam nodded towards their friends. Tucker was doing a ridiculous pose by the railing, and Valerie was rolling her eyes while taking pictures of him.

“You don’t have good enough photo shop to fix that!” Danny called before grabbing Sam’s hand and quickly phasing them below deck. They turned visible in a deserted room, laughing at Tucker’s muffled shouts. The halls were narrow, and every ten feet or so there was a door with a raised frame. Danny and Sam explored the ship, glancing into the artillery room before stopping in the front living quarters.

“Cozy,” Danny muttered, staring at the small bunks.

“Just like home, I’m sure.”

Danny and Sam spun around to see Vlad standing beyond the door. He transformed and floated inside, and it slammed shut beside him.

“Hey, my room’s not that small,” Danny protested.

“Not really the point,” Sam reminded him. She backed away while Danny transformed.

“What are you doing here, Vlad? Don’t you have a city to invade?” Danny taunted.

“Invade? Hardly. I’m simply giving them motivation.” Vlad sneered.

“And you want with this place?”

“Like I said, it’s all for motivation.” Vlad grinned, lifting a hand full of pink ecto-energy. Danny jumped backwards just in time, pulling Sam to the ground. The charged ectoplasm burst through the hull of the ship.

“Get everyone off the ship,” Danny instructed, turning Sam intangible and shoving her through the wall into the next room.

“Excellent. This makes things much easier.”

Danny ducked away from another blast and rose up, swinging his fist to strike Vlad in the chest. It hit, and the vampiric ghost phased through the door behind him. Danny followed, an ectoblast already charging in his palm. Vlad wasn’t in his immediate sight, but a tourist was. The man screamed in a comically high pitched voice and ran away, shouting about ghosts. Danny didn’t have time to worry about him. He’d barely turned away from the fleeing civilian when a wave of energy slammed into him. He fell to the ground, but the ectoplasm continued down the hallway, scorching the walls.

Danny fired blindly as he stood up, and grinned triumphantly when he heard Vlad grunt.

“Got tired of losing in Amity, Vladdy?” Danny taunted. “I didn’t know you were so eager for an international defeat.”

“I assure you, little badger, the one losing here is you.”

“Not from where I’m standing! Uh, flying.” Danny flinched, but didn’t have to duck away from the beam of pink ectoplasm that soared harmlessly over his shoulder. “Ha! You missed!”

“Did I?” Vlad smirked, and Danny spun around. The ecto-attack hadn’t touched him, but it did some serious damage to the boat. It tore through the wall, and probably the hull as well.

“Oh, no.” He looked back to Vlad, and saw the millionaire’s feet disappearing through the ceiling. Danny flew after him, and emerged onto the deck. They were hidden from the pier by the cabin, but they could hear the panicked shouts of the people. Danny growled and bombarded Vlad with ectoblasts, but Plasmius erected a translucent shield that absorbed the attacks.

“You’ll need for power than that,” Vlad taunted from behind the safety of his shield.

“I _have_ more power!” Danny insisted. He reeled back, focusing all his energy into his hands, and fired a powerful white blast. Vlad’s eyes widened and he quickly dropped hi shield, flying out of the way just in time. The energy hit the cabin and exploded, dashing white flames across the surface of the ship.

“Oh, now look at what you’ve done.” Vlad tutted. He changed back to human and ran. Danny quickly caught up, grabbed Vlad by his suit, and flew over the water.

“What’s your game?” Danny shouted.

“I keep telling you, Danial. It’s _chess_.” Vlad smirked. “Help! Help me!”

Danny’s eyes widened, and he looked over Vlad’s shoulders. No longer hidden by the pier, they were in full view, and it looked like Danny was a malicious ghost attacking an innocent man.

“Th-that’s the ghost I saw! Below deck!” A man shouted.

“You set me up, you destroyed the ship,” Danny hissed.

“No, Daniel. You did.”

Danny narrowed his eyes and threw Vlad towards the pier, quickly flying underneath before anyone could get a good look at him. He hovered, listening to Vlad and the man describe his appearance. But a voice above all that caught his attention.

“Emily!” Someone was shrieking. Danny peered between the boards and saw a woman standing by the edge of pier, being held back by several people as she tried to jump towards the burning ship, which was quickly sinking. Danny gasped and cast out his sense. It wasn’t easy, but if he focused enough he could sense human presence, and there was a small one going down with the ship. He turned intangible and flew into the ship, struggling to follow where his gut told him to go. He flew into a room just as it finished filling with water, and saw a small body drifting to the floor, golden-red curls floating around her face.

Danny grabbed the girl and flew straight up out of the water before abruptly altering his course and setting her down on the beach under the pier. He’d learned first aid a couple month ago, and immediately started doing chest compression, breathing into the girl’s mouth after thirty. After two rounds she coughed and spluttered, and he turned her onto her side so the water could drain from her lungs. The girl was dazed and sniffling, and squeaked in fright when she saw Danny.

“It’s okay!” He reassured her, moving slowly. “You need a doctor. I’ll bring you to your mom.”

Emily whimpered, but nodded and reached out for him. Danny scooped her up, turning both of them invisible, and went topside. The woman was kneeling, sobbing into her hands. Danny positioned himself just below her, so only she could see him, and momentarily made himself and the girl visible. The woman gasp, jumping to her feet. He moved a little farther away and did it again, going down the pier towards the lands. The woman followed, shoving past people keep up.

Danny stopped in a shadowed alley and showed himself for good. Emily, when she saw her mom running towards them, started squirming and pushing away from Danny. He didn’t let go until the mother was close enough, and Emily went running forwards. Her mother pulled her into a comforting embrace and stood, watching Danny fearfully.

“I didn’t hurt her,” he quickly defended himself. “She had water in her lungs, take her to a hospital.”

The woman, recognize Danny for what he was, looked back at the pier where several soldiers were watching the ship be swallowed by the ocean. Emily noticed, and pressed a finger to her mother’s lips.

“Thank you,” the woman whispered.

“It’s what I do.” Danny shrugged, and the woman left. He waited a minute or two before changing from Phantom to Fenton, and ran out to the start of the pier. His classmates that had been on board were gathered there, along with Sam, Valerie, and Tucker.

“What happened?” Valerie asked.

“Vlad was there, he…” Danny’s voice trailed off.

“Destroyed the boat?” Tucker suggested.

“No. Well, yeah. We were fighting, and apparently his goal the whole time was to damage it. The last attack, that was me.” Danny grimaced. He only used his full strength when his emotions were heightened, and this was a prime example of why he still needed to work on keeping his temper in check. “It’s exactly what he wanted, and I fell for it.”

“Now what?” Sam leaned against Danny, providing him the support he very much needed right then. He sighed as he focused on a conversation between to passing soldiers.

“Now I’m an international criminal.


	10. The Freelancers

The students that had been on the boat were required to give statements, just like every other witness. When it Danny, Sam, Tucker, and Valerie all took care to mention Plasmius and describe a second ghost, in the hopes of shifting the blame off of Danny. By the sound of things, it didn’t much work. By the time they were done, and the witnesses were allowed to go, the tour had been delayed over an hour. Elaine was worried about the students being traumatized by the attack, and suggested they find a hotel in the city. But after several reassurances that they were used to things like this happening—which made Elaine’s eyes widen in horror—they piled back onto the bus and continued on their way.

Any chance of Danny enjoying himself sank with the Abaddon, and he trudged through the rest of the day. Because of the delay, they missed their scheduled tour of a war museum, and had only a sparse half hour to peruse the four story building. Team Phantom used that time to loiter around the gift shop and plan.

“Tonight, after we get to the hotel, I’ll go out and try and look for Vlad’s portal,” Danny said as he sifted through a display of pewter soldiers, trying to look casual. The woman behind the store counter frequently shot the group dirty looks, obviously annoyed they were loitering and not actually buying anything.

“We should go with,” Sam immediately answered.

“Um, how would we do that?” Tucker asked, raising his hand.

“Um…” Sam’s expression blanked as she thought. If they were in Amity Park, she could easily sneak a couple of Vespa’s out her garage. But they weren’t in Amity Park, and at a running pace she and Tucker had no hopes of keeping up with Danny.

“I could go, I have my backpack,” Valerie suggested. She picked up a toy wooden rifle from a nearby rack and brought it up to her shoulder, pretending to look down its absent sights.

“You brought your stuff too?” Tucker blinked in surprise. Valerie pulled the trigger, and there was a soft pop as a rubber ball shot out of the barrel and bounced against Tucker’s chest.

“Of course, I never go anywhere without my gear.” Valerie and Danny, without looking at each other, raised their hands and high fived.

“Yeah, yeah. You’re the professional ghost hunters, we’re the unprepared novices.” Sam rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, giving her boyfriend a _look_.

“Hey, we _are_ the ones with the cool jumpsuits.” Danny grinned innocently. To prove his point, a white ring formed and his finger tips and crawled back, making the glove of his jumpsuit appear. Once it reach his wrist, it snapped back and his hand returned to normal.

“Show off,” Tucker grumbled.

Danny laughed, momentarily forgetting the morning’s incident. “Don’t worry, Tuck. You can build a mech suit or something.

“Yes!” Tucker pumped his fist and grinned, making the rest of them shake their heads. Valerie reloaded the wooden gun and shot him again. As their thirty minutes of free time ended, Lancer came around and told them to head back to the bus. Valerie purchased the toy rifle, which she had grown attached to, and rather enjoyed shooting Tucker with.

The rest of the day was rather uneventful. They arrived late at their hotel and trudged into the lobby, accompanied by the sound of dragging feet. Elaine and Lancer sorted everyone into their rooms in groups of four. After they had their room number, Danny and Tucker waited for the girls so they could head up together. They were only a couple rooms apart, and hardly spared a second thought for who their roommates would be. Exiting the elevator, the boys turned left, while the girls turned right. They opened the doors to their rooms, and both pairs stopped dead in their tracks.

“ _You’re_ our roommates?” Danny and Sam chorused, instinctively backing towards each other.

“Fen _turd_? No way I’m sharing a room with you,” Dash sneered as soon as he spotted Danny and Tucker. Kwan smiled sheepishly at them.

“Ew, I don’t want to share a mirror with _you_ , much less a room,” Paulina drawled to Sam and Valerie, while Star nodded furiously. Losers and A-listers stared each other down for several seconds before coming to an agreement.

“Trade?” Danny suggested.

“Don’t go thinking I’ll owe you any favours.” Dash and Kwan had thankfully not yet settled, and Dash readily tossed Danny the room’s key card. The jocks grabbed their bags and strode past, knocking Danny into the wall as they did. Sam held out her own key card for Dash to snatch up, giving him a scornful glance as he disappeared inside Paulina and Star’s room.

“It would have been camp all over again.” Tucker shuddered and flopped onto one of the beds, leaving his suitcase in the middle of the floor. Valerie, who hadn’t been a member of Team Phantom back then, had no idea what Tucker was talking about, but Sam and Danny quickly agreed. It wasn’t long before Lancer was peeking his head through their door, counting heads and calling for lights out. When he looked inside, he saw Danny and Tucker sitting the armchairs in the corner of the room, and two lumps already in bed. He didn’t even consider how they were much too small to be Dash and Kwan. As soon as the door was shut Valerie shot out of bed. She was already wearing her Red Huntress gear and started to open the window while Danny transformed.

“Remember, this isn’t Amity. Don’t do anything too reckless,” Sam admonished.

“Me? Reckless? I don’t think I’ve ever used those words in the same sentence.” Danny smirked arrogantly.

“You don’t, but we do. All the time. Along with ‘bad idea,’” Tucker laughed.

“Wow, I feel so confident. On that happy note, I’m leaving.” Danny turned intangible and phased through the closed section of the window. He gave a confident wave and rose away from the building, quickly followed by Valerie.

…

They did a brief patrol of the city before heading out in search of Vlad’s portal. There was surprising lack of ghostly activity, besides Danny himself. From what he had gathered during their short tenure on the island, ghosts had spread from coast to coast, while most activity was centred on the capital. He and Valerie were prepared to fend off a few ghouls, then start looking, but as Danny cast out his sense he felt nothing. While that should have been a good thing, it also meant Vlad’s portal probably wasn’t anywhere nearby. After the capital, it would only make sense for wherever the portal was to be the most ectoplasmically active area. Danny found the silent streets disheartening. Although the lack of soldiers was nice.

Danny and Valerie split up, performing a quick reconnaissance around the city, looking for any suspicious buildings our convenient landscapes. Unless a mansion could be build underground, it wasn’t there.

“Let’s just head to the forest,” Danny shouted to Valerie, who was flying several yards below him. She nodded to show she had heard, and angled her board north. They had considered using Fenton Phones to communicate, but once again their lack of knowledge on Lamia’s communication network made them hesitate. Both ghost hunters reasoned they would remain within shouting distance of each other at all times, and insisted Sam and Tucker actually sleep while they were gone. Having no way to pester Danny and Val for updates would force them to do just that.

As the neared the forest, Danny became dismayed.

“Remember when I decided _not_ to just go _looking_ for the portal?” Danny asked.

“No,” Val replied.

“Oh. I must have just thought it then.” They stopped at the border and looked over the expanse of trees. Danny’s initial description of the forest was small, when all he had seen were snapshots on brochures. But a forest was still a forest, and no forest was truly _small_. It started abruptly. The land was flat and rocky just like anywhere else, and suddenly it wasn’t. Suddenly it was green, and there was a dense line of trees. Danny was amazed so many trees managed to grow there and wondered if Undergrowth had paid a visit to Lamia sometime in the past. It was the only logical explanation he could think of.

He looked to his right, where the only road into the forest lay carved into the ground. A few feet from the forest border, the road was gated, with a booth on either side, and wall that was more symbolic than anything stretching for a mere fifty yards in either direction. Tomorrow, when Lancer’s class would load back up onto their bus, they would drive up from the city on that exact road, and enter through that gate.

“We don’t want to be here all night. Look for anything suspicious, and if we run out of time, I’ll sneak away tomorrow,” Danny instructed.

“And why couldn’t we _all_ just sneak away tomorrow?” Valerie asked, and Danny flushed when he realized that was a very good point.

“B-because we can’t _all_ disappear from the group. And, how would we know when the class is leaving? Um, we’ll also have more time now?” He suggested.

Valerie laughed. “Fine, ghost boy, I’ll give you that.”

Danny sighed in relief. As the one with ghost powers, and the actual hero of the group, he was also Team Phantom’s de facto leader. A position he never thought he would find himself in, and was even less prepared for. He could fight and banter like the best of them, but making plans really wasn’t his forte. At least making plans in _advance_ wasn’t. Danny always considered himself to be don’t-think-just-do type, not the plan-and-attack type. When something needed to be done, he just did it, and make something up as he went along. It worked out so far. But he felt a little out of his depth here, and solid plans were sounding better and better.

They plunged into the forest, and not four feet in, Danny burst out laughing at the sight of a football-shaped rock. Recalling Vlad’s not-so-subtle giant football that protected the entrance to his original Ghost Zone portal, before it blew up, he flew down towards the rock. But other than being shaped like a football, there was nothing suspicious about it.

Of course it couldn’t be that easy.

“I don’t think Vlad would hide a portal here,” Valerie said, gesturing around the forest. “With all these walking paths, there’s no way someone wouldn’t notice it. Not to mention all the construction?”

“But I have to _do_ something. If we stop the ghosts, that can fix everything. We can’t just…” Danny trailed off, sighing in frustration. Valerie was right. Five minutes in the forest and he could see not even Vlad would be stupid enough to the hide the portal there. Between rangers and tourists, it would be impossible to miss. “What am I supposed to do?”

“How about you come with us, ghost?”

Danny turned slowly, expecting soldiers or park rangers. What he saw instead was much more disturbing. It was a group of five people, three men and two women. They each carried some kind of ghost weapon, identifiable as Dalv tech by their black and red colour scheme. But it wasn’t the guns in his face that Danny found disturbing. It was the jumpsuits, and their startling familiarity. The men wore bright, dayglow orange, and the woman sported teal.

“Uh, Val? Are they real?” Danny asked. He drifted towards the man in front, who while not as disproportionately sized as his father, looked just as strong. But the threat he posed was offset by the ridiculousness of the outfit. The man’s jumpsuit was poorly sewn, several sizes too large, and bunched around the man’s wrists and ankles. As Danny approached, the man flinched and his gun twitched, reminding the halfa of what Vlad’s tech could actually do.

“I think so,” was Valerie’s soft reply. The copycats apparently hadn’t noticed her before, and a few of them jumped, their guns swivelling around to aim at the huntress.

“It’s like looking at Vlad’s failed clones, but… it’s my parents… and they’re funny instead of scary,” Danny continued. He reached out and touched the barrel of the front man’s gun.

“I told you you’re coming with us!” He repeated, shaking Danny’s hand off. Danny noticed a subtle difference in the man’s accent. It wasn’t obvious, but it immediately had him thinking that this was Lamia’s version of a ‘southern’ accent.

“And who are you?”

“Freelancers! The president isn’t doing his job and finding a way to take care of you pests, so we’ll do it ourselves!”

The two women nodded firmly.

“Um, right, but you don’t have to shout so much.”

“Be quiet!”

“This one isn’t glowing,” one of the other men said, jerking his head towards Valerie.

“Because that’s not a ghost, idiot,” the leader snapped. He briefly tore his eyes away from Danny. “Another freelancer?”

Danny could see his friend, but he could practically feel her thinking, and was only a little surprised when she answered.

“Yeah, and this ghost is mine!” Valerie’s board hummed as she shot forwards, and Danny’s arms were yanked back. He felt the tingle of anti-ecto cuffs through his jumpsuit as Valerie snapped them around his wrists, thankfully at their lowest power setting.

“Sorry,” she whispered in his ear. Luckily, the tint of her mask prevented the freelancers from seeing it.

“Oh, no, you caught me!” Danny wailed in false distress, and the freelancers lowered their guns. The leader glanced back, and a series of subtle nods was exchanged. Danny didn’t like it.

“Do you have your radio with you?” The man asked.

“I, um, what?” Valerie stammered.

“To call the soldiers. Whenever a freelancer catches a ghost, they have to hand it over to the soldiers,” he explained.

Danny frowned. Considering how mad these people were towards the president, he assumed that anger stretched to the military as well. They didn’t seem like the type of people just willing to hand over any ghost they managed to catch. Valerie must have been thinking the same thing, because they started to drift backwards.

“I don’t have it with me. I left my radio at home.” Valerie gestured vaguely towards the border of the forest, which was painfully close.

“Nonsense! Wherever you live I can guarantee that we’re closer. You have to come with us,” the leader insisted. His hand fell back to his gun, and his cronies lifted theirs back up. Danny nudged Valerie reassuringly, and she lowered them to the ground. Danny, by habit, kept his knees bent and was prepared to float in front of Valerie when the two women stepped forwards. One wrapped an arm around Valerie’s shoulder in what appeared to be a kind gesture, but the amount of force used to tear the two teens apart proved it wasn’t. The other woman took Valerie’s place and stepped on Danny’s heels, forcing his feet to the ground.

“No funny business,” she hissed as her hands closed around Danny’s wrist. The woman looked down, then smiled at Valerie. “Oh, sweetie. It’s a good thing we’re to help you. You didn’t turn the cuffs on all the way, it could have escaped.”

Danny barely had a second to seethe over being called an ‘it’ when the tingle of the cuffs jumped to a burning so strong he was surprised it didn’t set his skin on fire. Danny gasped at the sudden pain. While the cuffs at the airport had hurt, he had still been human then. But now, in his ghost form, the pain was near excruciating. It didn’t help that Valerie had the best Dalv tech there was to offer, enhanced by Technus, the ghost of technology himself. Danny’s knees buckled and he almost fell forwards. He probably would have, if the woman holding him hadn’t kicked his foot, sending it out in front of him just in time to catch his weight.

“Isn’t that better?” the woman cooed, shoving him forwards once again.

Danny hissed sharply as the sudden movement had the cuffs digging deeper into his skin. He rolled his eyes and glanced at Valerie, who was giving him an apologetic look. “Oh, yeah. Loads.”


	11. The Spark

Danny, as a ghost, had a problem with freelancers in any situation. The Groovy Gang were a nuisance. The Extreme Ghostbreakers had a pretty high tech arsenal that led to a few unpleasant situations. Valerie had been a lot of trouble when she first took up ghost hunting. The whole personal vendetta only exacerbated the situation. Although, if Cujo hadn’t ruined Val’s life, she might not have ever gotten involved in ghosts. So it was Vlad who exacerbated that situation. Danny’s own parents were technically freelancers. They received government funding for non-ghost related inventions, and used the profits from those inventions to fund their more serious pursuits. They were the epitome of dangerous freelancers, despite their reputation.

But these Lamian’s might just take the cake. As he and Valerie were marched through the forest, Danny’s thoughts frequently drifted to the park rangers that were supposed to be taking care of the place. How did they manage to miss a group of crazies slipping into the forest? Granted, the wall at the entrance was only for decoration, and who was to say these freelancers didn’t just walk in at a different angle. But they didn’t seem like the type willing to lug all their equipment that far.

In the back of his mind, Danny hoped some guy dressed in green shorts would block their path and distract the freelancers long enough for either him or Valerie to make some sort of escape. In all likelihood, it would be Valerie. Danny could feel his powers draining by the second. But any hopes of distraction were dashed away when he was where they were headed. A two story building with a small picnic area around it, and several paths branching away from its doorstep. No rangers were coming, because these crazy freelancers _were_ the rangers. Although that still didn’t explain the outfits. Valerie was obviously thinking the same thing.

“So what’s with the jumpsuits?” she bluntly asked.

“You’re wearing a jumpsuit,” the woman guiding her spat.

“Yeah, but I’m wearing _my_ jumpsuit. In America, yours are pretty famous for being worn by the, uh, this ghost hunting couple,” Valerie explained.

“The Fentons, of course. We know about them,” the leader said. “When the first ghost appeared in the capital, I knew we’d have to prepare. We spent hours researching ghosts, and the Fentons were mentioned frequently. This is a uniform, isn’t it?”

“No, not really. It’s just what they wear.” Valerie shook her head. One of the men looked back at Danny.

“You have a jumpsuit too,” he pointed out.

“Wow, you are the observant one, aren’t you?” Danny drawled.

“Roland, shut up,” the leader hissed.

Roland huffed but obeyed. They reached the building, which had a sign reading ‘Lamian National Forest Information Centre and Ranger Station’ out front, and were marched inside. They walked passed stands full of brochures, behind the information desk and into an office beyond. Valerie was pushed down onto a chair while Danny was shoved to his knees.

“Deena, go fetch the radio,” the leader instructed. The woman who had been guiding Valerie nodded and left the office, which seemed odd. If the radio were anywhere, wouldn’t it be in the office?

Roland shuffled towards Valerie, taking Deena’s place hovering at the huntress’ shoulder. Danny tried to shift and make himself more comfortable, and was rewarded with a sharp pinch to the ear, which hurt a surprising amount. He flinched and tilted his head back to glare at the woman still holding him and was pinched again. Danny hissed in frustration. He was good at dealing with ghosts, he dealt with ghosts all the time. It was humans he couldn’t handle. Whether they were overbearing older sisters, bully jocks, or vapid classmates, humans were not his forte. The main reason being he couldn’t fight them.

Well, he could fight them, quite easily in fact, but he limited his offensive use of power towards ghosts only and always flew away before humans could attack him. Valerie had been the exception, because of the advantage she had over all the other ghost hunters, but Danny never fought her seriously.

He got the feeling the only way out of this situation would be through fighting, and he wasn’t prepared for that. He wasn’t even comfortable with it. The incident at the port town only reminded him how damaging his ghost powers could be. The last thing Danny wanted was to intentionally use them against humans. Even if they were crazy, Fenton worshipping freelancers. Maybe Valerie wouldn’t mind pulling the weight on this one?

“You’re not from Lamia.”

Danny’s gaze jumped to Roland, who was leaning down slightly to talk to Valerie. The leader and the other man were too absorbed in their conversation to notice, and the only reason Danny could hear Roland’s hushed tone was because of his heightened senses in ghost mode. He relaxed slightly and focused on their conversation.

“No.” Valerie shook her head. There was no point in denying it, her American accent gave it away.

“Then why are you here, hunting ghosts?” he asked.

“It’s my job,” Valerie answered quickly. “I look into ectoplasmic disturbances, and this is a big one.”

“This ghost?” Roland pressed, gesturing at Danny.

“No, he’s not, he’s actually—ahh!” Valerie cried out as something was jabbed into her back and suddenly she was convulsing as electricity coursed through her body. She crumpled and fell from her chair, muscles going rigid, until Deena removed her finger from the Taser trigger. The voltage hadn’t been high enough to do any real damage, but it left her panting and shaking slightly, unable to rise to her feet.

“Don’t think we didn’t see you chatting and being all buddy-buddy with the ghost over there before you saw us.” Deena sneered. “You’re not a ghost, but you’re helping them. And we just can’t have that.”

“You’re staying here with us,” the leader said, stepping forwards. Deena passed off the Taser and grabbed Valerie, yanking her upright and binding her hands. Valerie struggled weakly, but her limbs were still shaking and didn’t want to obey. She cast a desperate look to her right.

“Danny—” she called, and froze. Deena had given her Taser to the woman holding Danny, who now had the weapon jabbed into his side. Danny’s body was rigid, then went limp when the flow of electricity ceased. When the halfa opened his eyes, he wasn’t twitching or convulsing, but had his gaze fixed on the woman that held him, and the Taser she carried.

His eyes were wide and he was taking short, rapid breaths. Valerie’s own eyes widened in realization. Danny had almost died from electrocution. Or he had died, but was still technically alive—no one on Team Phantom was quite sure how his condition worked. Either way, it had been extremely painful, and naturally left a couple mental scars. A few months ago, they had been tampering with the Specter Speeder when Danny received a mild shock. It hadn’t taken long for the panic to set in, and not long after that his powers went haywire. At the time they thought his powers acting up had been a result of the shock itself, since the Plasmius Maximus did something similar to short them out. But it was quickly becoming evident to Valerie that their assumptions were wrong. In fact, it looked like he didn’t even have to be the one shocked. Just witnessing the action was enough.

“Danny,” Valerie rasped, her throat a little sore as a result of the electricity. “Danny, calm down.”

But he ignored her, or he couldn’t hear her. His ghostly green eyes, which were vibrant on any normal day, were quickly growing brighter and the white aura around him seemed to be growing.

“What’s he doing?” the leader demanded and took a step forwards.

“Stop!” Valerie shouted when Danny’s head whipped around and he hunched over, shoulders shaking. She was once again ignored. It happened when the leader took his final step forwards, and reached out to grab Danny’s hair. The halfa’s aura receded until it was barely noticeable, then exploded outwards in a wall of white light. Valerie threw herself to the ground while the freelancing rangers were tossed into the walls. Danny’s hands glowed white and the cuffs were encased in ice. One jerk of his arms and they were ripped apart. Danny started to flicker in and out of visibility, and various parts of his body turned intangible at a time, so he was slowly sinking into the floor. His aura seemed to bubble and bulge, pockets of green energy expanding and popping, and his more volatile, corrosive ectoplasm burst outwards.

The hands of the woman who had been holding Danny, and was still closest to him, were heavily doused. She and Danny screamed in unison, and the halfa’s voice caused the whole building to shake. He was clutching his head, trying to reign in his rampaging powers with little success.

It was a painful and tumultuous experience. Danny lost all awareness of his surroundings and could feel his powers consuming him. It was the only thing he could feel, and it _hurt._ Distantly, he was aware of shouting, and screaming. Pain blossomed along his side, and he knew it wasn’t from his own powers. Instinctively, he lashed out thrusting a hand forwards and blasting whoever or whatever had shot him. He vaguely remembered that, somewhere in this room, and somewhere else on this island, he had allies that he absolutely could not hurt. If he did… his mind, in its current state, couldn’t even process that as a possibility.

Danny flinched as something passed through his intangible shoulder, but when the limb turned solid, the touch was protective and safe, not painful. He was tugged upwards, feeling a pull around his waist as he was pulled from the floor. He wasn’t sure if he was walking, running, or flying. He only knew that they were quickly leaving the bad place.

“Get… Sam… ay here… I… back.”

He only heard fragments of what was spoken to him, and soon his hands were being pressed against something hard, and he knew he was alone. Danny focused on remaining tangible and invisible, which was easier to control than his ectoplasm. He wasn’t sure how long it took, but the voice eventually returned. He was too focused on staying visible to pay attention to what was being said. There was another safe, gentle touch, this one inherently better than the first. He felt himself relaxing and the touch moved. First to his face, then his lips.

Danny blinked, finally regaining his awareness. He was in the Lamian National Forest, standing in front of a football shaped boulder with his hands pressed against it, and Sam was there. She had slipped between Danny’s arms so her back was pressed to the rock. Her hands were on either side of Danny’s face and she was standing on the tips of her toes, having risen up to kiss her boyfriend. Her hands shifted to his shoulders and she gently pushed him back, stepping with him as he back away from the boulder. Sam wrapped her arms around him, and Danny returned the hug, burying his face her hair.

“I’m good, I think,” he said, but didn’t pull away. He opened one eye and looked at the football rock. There were two black hand prints burned into it now, and he got the feeling they would stay there for a very long time.

“I’m okay,” he repeated.

“No you’re not,” Sam scolded, breaking the hug and looking purposefully at his torso. There was a ragged hole in his jumpsuit and the exposed skin was burnt and bloody. Then she lifted his arms from around her neck and showed him his wrists. The cuffs had done a lot more damage than he initially felt. They had burned through his jumpsuit and patches of fabric clung to his glistening pink and red skin. His shock after losing control was the only thing preventing him from feeling the pain. Danny was just lucky ghosts were typically incredibly hard to burn, he was just a little more susceptible than others. In about a week it would be nothing more than another scar on a very abused area of his body. It was quite possible anti-ghost cuffs were the bane of his existence, forget Vlad. It was amazing how no one had noticed the discolouration around his wrists from layers of burns.

“Ouch,” Danny mumbled belatedly, dropping his hands.

“Are you okay to fly for a while?” Valerie asked, interrupting the couple. “I could carry all three of us on my board, but it’ll be slow. If he can at least get halfway back to town before then…”

“I can fly.” Danny nodded, rising into the air to prove his point. Sam wanted to stay close to him, in case he was more seriously injured than he appeared, but knew it would only put more strain on his body if he had to carry her. The best thing to do would be for Danny to change back and let his body rest. Oddly enough, his healing worked better when he was human. But it was well past midnight now and they did need to get some sleep tonight.

Sam climbed onto Valerie’s hoverboard and they started on their way back to the hotel. She had only been given a short explanation of Danny’s loss of control when Valerie showed up outside their window, knocking frantically. On the return trip, Valerie elaborated on the events.

“There was a Taser,” she explained, and they could see Danny stiffen beside them.

“Did I…?”

“You didn’t actually hurt anyone. You shot at the leader, but only hit his gun. That woman, the one holding you, was hit by your ectoplasm, but that wasn’t from an attack. She was just too close when it started.”

Danny nodded silently, his expression solemn, and Sam wanted to reach out and comfort him. But couldn’t unless she wanted to risk tipping both her and Valerie over. To both girls’ chagrin, Danny refused to transform back when they reached the halfway point, insisting they needed the speed. It wasn’t until they reached the city that he finally allowed himself to rest. Sam lowered herself so she was sitting at the back of the hoverboard, and Danny mimicked her pose at the front before transforming back. They learned early on, when Valerie joined their Team, that this was one of the easiest ways for her to carry two extra people on her board. It lowered the center of gravity and eased maneuverability more than three standing people attempting to shift in unison could.

Danny grimaced, pressing a hand to his side. When he changed back, his shirt had been perfectly intact, but it was speckled with blood now. The wound probably looked a lot worse than it actually was. At least he hoped so.

It took them no longer than ten minutes to reach the hotel. Danny knocked on the window and Tucker readily opened it for them.

“Whoa,” Tucker said as Danny tumbled into the room and claimed the nearest chair. “What happened to you guys?”

“Freelancers dressed like my parents,” Danny grunted as he removed his shirt.

“That’s… creepy.”

“It really was,” Valerie said. She pressed a button on her suit and it quickly retracted. She returned her bracelets, and weapons, to her backpack and passed Sam a first-aid kit.

“You know, I just realized, I get how Danny got his ghost hunting stuff passed airport security, but how did you?” Tucker asked.

“Ghost energy messes with electrical equipment. Thanks to Technus’ meddling, scanners can’t properly registered _my_ equipment. Stuffed in a backpack inside my suitcase, no one would notice,” Valerie said. She dropped onto one of the beds beside Tucker, and silence fell as Sam worked on cleaning Danny’s wounds. Just like he thought, the injury on his side was more superficial than anything, Sam started with his wrists. He hissed every time she pulled away a charred piece of his gloves, which regrettably hadn’t disappeared with the rest of his jumpsuit when he changed back.

“I guess we’ll have to watch out for more than just soldiers from now on,” Tucker mused.

“I will, at least,” Danny grumbled, followed by a hum of relief as Sam applied a burn cream to his wrists.

“We’ll figure this out,” Sam reassured him. She started on bandaging his wrists when there was a knock at the door. The quartet of teens shared a look, knowing whoever was outside had to have heard them talking. But they also knew it wouldn’t be Lancer.

“Hey, Fen _tina_!”

“Can we go back to the freelancers?” Danny asked, giving Valerie an amused look.

“I’d definitely rather deal with them,” the huntress said as she rose from her seat. Danny ducked into the bathroom so he was out of view of the door, Sam following him to continue her work. There was a click and a sigh.

“What do you want, Dash?”

“Oh, Valerie,” was Dash’s intelligent reply. Valerie wasn’t an A-lister anymore, but they _had_ been friends once. Besides, his original plan had been to shout at Fenton. “Can’t find our football.”

Dash pushed past Valerie and entered the room, ignoring her protests.

“Why would you need a football at two in the morning?” Tucker asked.

“Shut it, Foley, no one asked you,” Dash snapped.

“Right, that’s why _he’s_ asking _you_ ,” Danny’s voice echoed from the bathroom.

“ _Danny!_ ” Sam hissed.

“What? He’s not gonna-”

The moment Dash heard the voice of his preferred punching bag, his immediately placed the blame of his lost lucky football on said punching bag. Dash marched over to the bathroom and threw the door open. “Fenton, where the hell did you…”

Dash froze at what he saw. Danny was sitting on the edge of the bathtub, his shirt removed. There were a few scars scattered across his muscled arms and torso, but what drew Dash’s attention was the blood smeared across Danny’s side.

“What the hell did you _do_?”


	12. The Jock

There was a beat of silence after Dash’s exclamation, during which the jock and ‘loser’ stared at each other, while Sam slowly dabbed at the blood on Danny’s side. Dash was perfecting his impression of a fish, as his mouth opened and closed several times while he struggled to find something to say. Danny beat him to it.

“You just barged into an occupied bathroom. I’m going to guess and say you didn’t know this,” Danny gestured to his torso, and Sam still cleaning it, “was going on. So… that seems a bit perverted, doesn’t it?”

Realizing what Danny was getting at, Dash flushed and quickly backed out of the bathroom, shutting the door loudly behind him. He whirled around to find Tucker and Valerie crowding him, giving him stern looks.

“What’s going on?” Dash demanded.

Tucker and Valerie exchanged looks before the huntress spoke. “Danny’s clumsy, he hurt himself. Now come on, Dash, we want to go to bed.”

“No way! _That_ doesn’t happen from being clumsy. Have you seen those scars?” Dash shouted, and was quickly shushed by Tucker.

“Do you want to wake Lancer up?” the techno geek hissed. “And why do you care?”

Memories of an uncle who used to babysit him often flashed through Dash’s mind, several of which were emphasized by broken beer bottles and meaty fists. He quickly shooed them away. “Does it matter?”

Tucker misunderstood the almost worried look in Dash’s eyes, but his response was equal parts reassuring and worrying. “They’re not from you.”

“Now, can you leave?” Valerie asked, but it was more of a demand. In response, Dash sauntered over to one of the armchairs in the corner of the room and sat down, fixing his gaze on the bathroom door. Behind which Danny had lost his cool exterior and was now panicking and disrupting the healing efforts of his girlfriend.

“He saw me,” Danny groaned for perhaps the tenth time. “Dash Baxter, of all people, saw me injured.”

“It wouldn’t be the first time,” Sam spat venomously, although it was warranted. She grabbed her boyfriend’s shoulder and shook him slightly. “Hold still! Every time you move, it bleeds a little more.”

“Sorry,” Danny mumbled. He remained still for all of two seconds before groaning again. “He saw me-”

“Without a shirt. He saw your scars, and this stupid would, and would you hold _still_!” Sam almost shouted, punching the uninjured side of Danny’s torso, but not enough to actually hurt him. “There’s a lot to worry about right now.”

“Yeah, like Vlad, Dells, freelancers, the portal, and that Dash could end up blowing my whole secret!” Danny lamented.

“He doesn’t know your secret,” Sam reminded him, giving up on her endeavour and grabbing the tape and gauze pads.

“But he could figure it out,” Danny hissed. “There aren’t really a lot of explanations for my scars, of why I would be injured now, here of all places!”

“And the logical conclusion is that you’re a ghost?”

“Yes! Of course it…” Danny stopped talking when he looked down and saw Sam’s expression. She had one eyebrow raised, and an amused smirk on her face. “Isn’t. Me being a ghost isn’t the logical conclusion.”

“Exactly. So think of something that is and let me finish this.”

Danny’s shoulders slumped and he nodded, sitting still just long enough for Sam to dab away a little more blood, slap a patch over the wound, and tape it in place. She wiped Danny’s blood onto her pajama pants, not much caring about ruining them. They were a horrible pink piece her mother had snuck into her suitcase at the last second, taking out all of Sam’s other sleepwear, including her favourite sleeping shirt. Which was actually one of Danny’s old shirts.

“You have an idea?” Sam asked, helping Danny stand.

“Yeah, I think so.” He nodded. “If Dash brings it up tomorrow, I’ll use it.”

They stepped out of the bathroom, and immediately saw Dash sitting in the corner.

“Or I’ll use it now,” Danny said dejectedly.

“Fenton, what’s up with you?” Dash asked. Danny looked at Tucker and Valerie, silently asking them why Dash was still in their room. They just shrugged and shook their heads. Dash wouldn’t listen.

Danny sighed and grabbed Sam’s hand. His lying had improved ever since first becoming Danny Phantom, but there were still times when it was reassuring to know his friends—and girlfriend—were there in case he totally flopped. And sometimes he just liked an excuse to hold Sam’s hand.

“I went for a walk and got jumped by a ghost. Some ghost hunters chased it away, and I came back here, since we have a first-aid kit,” Danny explained. It wasn’t a well thought out lie, but it was certainly plausible, and not that far off from the truth. Really, the only thing Danny did was change ‘searching for a ghost portal’ to a walk, and turning the freelancers into the vicious ghost.

“How’d you leave the hotel?” Dash asked.

“The front door.”

Dash’s eyes narrowed, and for a moment Danny didn’t think the jock believed him. Maybe he underestimated how stupid the self-proclaimed King of Casper High was.

“Shouldn’t you tell Lancer?”

“Wow, Dash. It almost sounds like you care,” Danny said, rolling his eyes.

“Yeah, that you’ll ruin this whole by getting yourself killed because you didn’t tell Lancer,” Dash shot back, rising from his seat. “Like I’d care about you, Fenton."

The jock left the room, and Team Phantom released a collective sigh of relief.

“Not bad,” Valerie commented, flopping back onto one of the beds.

“Thanks.” Danny hopped over to other bed and dove. He immediately regretted the action when he landed face first on the bed, bouncing slightly, and the impact jolted his injury.

“I could still do better.”

“There it is.” Danny rolled onto his back and shot Valerie a dirty look. The huntress was smirking. “Tucker, control your girlfriend.”

“She’s not my-”

Sam and Danny were laughing before Tucker could even finish his statement. The techno geek blinked, and flushed when he realized what he had been about to say. _The_ legendary sentence he constantly teased Sam and Danny about before they became official.

“We have a purely platonic friendship,” Tucker said, rewording his statement. “And I wouldn’t try to control her if you paid me a million bucks.”

“That could be arranged,” Sam offered teasingly.

“Along with an ecto-blaster to the face,” Valerie quickly added.

“Either way,” Danny rolled to the side so Sam could lie down beside him, “you’re the one sharing a bed with her.”

Tucker looked at Danny and Sam, then Valerie. The huntress was lying starfish across the bed she occupied, taking up as much room as possible.

“I’ll take the floor.” Tucker spun on his heels and grabbed the cushions from the armchairs, plus the extra pillows and blanket from the closet. He piled everything on the floor, shut off the light, and burrowed into his makeshift bed with a satisfied sigh.

“Next time, one of you guys gets the floor.”

…

Back in his own room, Dash was leaning back in a chair and staring contemplatively out the window. The lights were off, and his friends were asleep. He wasn’t going to admit it out loud, but he hadn’t gone into the losers’ room for a football. The item he claimed to be looking for was sitting on the nightstand between the two beds.

Dash had been on his phone, taking advantage of the hotel Wi-Fi to catch up on social media. He hadn’t even noticed how much time had gone by until he heard noise in the next room over. The losers’ room. He didn’t much care why they were still awake, until he heard the pained groan. Dash didn’t care much for his classmates, anyone could see that. But they lived in Amity Park, the most haunted city in the world. There were three things citizens of Amity Park were accustomed to. Ghost attacks, seeing people injured from ghost attacks, and helping people injured during a ghost attack. It was sort of an unspoken rule among Amity’s citizens. If you heard someone in pain, you went to help. One of the benefits of being a highly localized city.

For this reason, Dash put down his phone, pulled on a hoodie over his pajamas, and trudged over to Fenton’s room. Now he was reflecting on the short sequence of events. Fenton had been attacked by a ghost, got injured, and some local ghost hunter saved him. Dash didn’t know Lamia even had ghost hunters, but the situation seemed valid enough, even if there were a few loopholes. There always were when it came to Fenton. His real concern were the other scars.

Again, not that Dash was concerned. (He was, he really was).

Kwan was the only person who knew about Dash’s unfortunate experience with abusive adults. His uncle was in jail now, but it was still a touchy subject for him. Seeing Fenton, Dash wondered if his favourite punching bag was in his own abusive situation. Most of the scars only looked a couple years old, which would be around the start of high school, and when Fenton’s strange behaviour first started.

Dash shook his head sharply, glancing at the clock on his phone. He was an A-lister, he didn’t care about losers like Danny Fenton.

 _But_ , Dash thought as he finally went to bed, _it wouldn’t be so bad to lay off him for a while._

…

In the morning, Lancer went around knocking on doors to make sure everyone was awake. Everyone was packed and loaded back onto the bus by nine. Team Phantom chose to sit closer to the back of the bus this time, well behind Dash. Danny was surprised when, walking down the aisle, the jock didn’t stick his foot out to trip him. It was nice, but strange. The halfa decided to shrug it off for now. There were more important things going on, now that he wasn’t worrying about Dash discovering his secret.

Namely, the rangers. As freelance ghost hunters, they could have tracking equipment that would go off at Danny’s ecto-signature. Not to mention there was a slight chance they would recognize Valerie. She had worn her helmet for the entirety of their encounter, but her visor wasn’t solid like it used to be, and you could see her face if you took the time. There was plenty of time yesterday, before Danny flew off the handle. The drive to the national forest took an hour, longer than it did for Valerie and Danny to fly last night. Just one of the advantages of owning a high tech hoverboard and having ghost powers.

There were a few vehicles ahead of them when they reached the entrance, since the forest was one of the most frequented locations in Lamia. As the bus crawled towards the gate, Team Phantom were huddled in their seats, discussing possible contingencies.

“If we see the rangers, you should stick to the middle of the group, just in case,” Danny suggested to Valerie.

“Right. Do you think they’ll still be wearing those jumpsuits?”

“Oh, I hope not,” Danny groaned. It was painful just remembering the image. It wasn’t something he wanted to see again.

“What are you gonna do if their gear senses you?” Sam asked.

“I don’t think they actually have that tech,” Valerie answered before Danny could. “I only saw guns on them.”

“Couldn’t you just use the same explanation you gave the soldiers anyways?” Tucker suggested.

“No,” the other three members of Team Phantom chorused.

“These are amateur freelancers, panicking because of the recent spike in ghost activity. I don’t think they actually know anything about ghosts, or that they would understand or believe Danny’s explanation,” Valerie said.

“Not to mention they’re a touch crazy! Who knows what they would have done with Val if I hadn’t, you know, lost it,” Danny added.

“Danny’s signature has set off the sensors of a lot of amateur ghost hunters. Have any of them ever listened to reason?” Sam reminded him, making each of the teens recall the incident that led to Valerie joining their team in the first place.

“Okay, fine. You’ve got a point.” Tucker held up his hands in surrender. “So no accidental alarm contingencies?”

“I don’t think we’ll need one.” Sam nodded to the front of the bus. They had passed through the gate, but rather than driving to the parking lot, the bus was pulling up along the side of outer road. It stopped, and the door was opened. A slight sense of dread filled Danny as someone entered the bus, and a familiar head rose above the seats. The halfa sunk down, sighing and grumbling, as the uniformed man approached. A small part of him wanted to turn invisible, or phase through the bus and escape into the forest, just so he could the extra day of relaxation Sam kept saying he needed. But the hero in Danny, as much as he denied having one, knew this man’s presence meant something bad had happened, and he couldn’t waste his time relaxing when there was a country to be saved.

Danny closed his eyes as the footsteps approached, waiting until they stopped before he opened them and looked up.

Lieutenant Fable, as stiff as ever, was staring down at Danny with a neutral expression.

“Daniel, you need to return to the capital right away.”

Danny nodded, not really interesting in denying the request. He wasn’t really sure whether this was actually legal, considering he was underage and on a school field trip of all things. It probably wasn’t. But any doubts he had flew from his mind at Fable’s next words.

“The president is missing.”


	13. The Missing

Fable hadn’t spoken quietly, and the students around them burst into hushed conversation, passing the news to the front of the bus. They may not have been from Lamia, but a missing president was a big issue no matter what.

“Mr. Lancer, I have to back to the capital with Lieutenant Fable,” Danny said as he rose from his seat. The lieutenant hadn’t expressly asked for help, and Danny was certain that in any other situation he absolutely wouldn’t. Really, why would a soldier ask a teenager to help with their missing president? But Fable obviously suspected the ghosts, and Danny was a ghost expert. At least that’s the reason Danny suspected.

“Mr. Fenton, I cannot allow you to do that without the entire class returning with you. We are on a school trip, and we are not here to become involved with the political affairs of another country,” Lancer said firmly.

“Uh, Mr. Lancer, I really-,” Danny started to argue, but Fable beat him to it.

“Sir, this is a national emergency. Daniel has expressed considerable, and valuable knowledge towards the situation, and his presence in Eanna is demanded,” Fable said. Lancer was about to argue, when the lieutenant took it a step further. “If you do anything to obstruct his return, I will have to consider you as interfering with the Lamian military, and hindering the investigation into the disappearance of the Lamian president. I will have you arrested.”

Lancer’s eyes widened, and Fable grabbed Danny’s shoulder to steer him out of the bus.

“The driver will get your luggage,” Fable said, and the man in the front seat nodded, scrambling out of the bus to the compartments accessed on the outside.

“ _Buried Alive_ , Lieutenant Fable, you have to understand I can’t just let one of my students leave, and I can’t leave the rest,” Lancer reasoned. “Can another student accompany him?”

Fable looked around the bus, and nodded after only a moment’s hesitation.

“Mr. Baxter, can you accompany Daniel and Lieutenant Fable back to the capital?”

Dash’s head shot up above the seats. He had been hunched over, talking to the other A-lister’s, when Lancer called his name. Normally Dash would have made some kind of fuss until another student was picked, but then he remembered the sight he’d seen yesterday.

“Sure, whatever.” Dash shrugged, like skipping out on their island tour was no big deal. He shuffled past Kwan and followed Fable and Danny outside. The driver, who had just finished fishing out Danny’s suitcase, dove back into the pile to find Dash’s. While the jock sported a carefully bored expression, Danny was watching him with surprise written all over his face. They were already away from teacher supervision for more than seven seconds, yet no insults had been muttered.

“Dash, are you okay?” Danny asked, thoroughly worried. Maybe the jock had been overshadowed.

“Yeah, totally.” Dash rolled his eyes. “I just didn’t want to spend another day on that stupid bus.”

“Right.” Danny nodded slowly, grabbing the handle of his suitcase. He would have preferred Sam, or Tucker, Valerie to be with him. But Lancer had already chosen, and Danny didn’t really want to draw any more attention to Team Phantom by making a big deal out of it. He would see them tomorrow, if the rest of the tour went as planned.

Their luggage was shoved into the back of the Humvee, and Danny and Dash climbed into the backseat. Neither boy wanted to be up front with the soldier. The drive was tense and silent. Dash was asleep for most of it. Danny tried to ask Fable what happened, to break the silence, but the lieutenant refused to talk in Dash’s presence, even if the jock wasn’t conscious.

The national forest had been on the opposite side of country from Eanna. Fable took a gravel road used primarily by the military, rather than the main one that circled the island, that skimmed about an hour off their travel time. Fable’s speeding helped somewhat. When the capital was insight, Danny prodded Dash awake, earning a lazy punch and a few grumbled insults. It was almost normal.

Fable drove to the presidential building, guided Danny and Dash through the halls, and stopped before a set of ornate doors. There was another soldier standing before them, one Danny vaguely recognized. The other soldier from the plane, when they first landed. It felt like a really long time ago.

“This one stays out here. Watch him,” Fable said, grabbing Dash’s shoulder and shoving him forwards. “Daniel, follow me.”

Danny shrugged, and did as asked. He wasn’t too concerned with Dash. He entered the room, expecting another long table, and another set of government snobs. Instead it was an office, a nice one. A fancy one. It was spacious, and the desk was ornate. Danny looked around, noticing the pictures circling the room. The first of them, starting above the door, were paintings. Then they were black and white photographs, then colour, halfway around the room. He had no idea who any of them were, but knew they must have been previous presidents. Meaning this was Dells’ office.

Fable took one of the chairs sitting in front of the desk, and motioned for Danny to claim the other. He did, and looked expectantly at the Lieutenant.

“The day you left the capital, there was an attack at one of our coastal cities. A war relic, an old ship, was destroyed by a ghost. A humanoid ghost. After hearing of the attack, President Dells informed the government council, and a select number of soldiers, that he received intel of a ghost that could disguise itself as human. We think the one that attacked the Abaddon is that ghost,” Fable explained, making Danny more than a little uncomfortable. Not just because of how close to the truth they were, but because it _was_ the truth, and to Lamia, Danny Phantom was a villain.

“I’m under the impression President Dells told you about our black-haired ghost?” Fable asked.

Danny nodded, remembering both the conversation, and the close call when he’d almost been seen by the soldier. Well, he had been seen, but not fully.

“If it’s true that this ghost can blend in with humans, I believe the one I saw, and the one that destroyed the Abaddon are the same entity.”

Danny chuckled nervously. “Some ghost _do_ have the ability to shapeshift.”

“General Ezra volunteered to track this ghost. He left only a few hours after we received news of the attack, and we haven’t heard from him since.”

“Wait, I thought president was missing?” Danny asked, frowning.

“He is,” Fable confirmed.

“And the General is too?”

“Yes. When we didn’t hear from him, and the soldiers stationed on the coast failed to report Ezra’s arrival, Dells decided to visit the city himself, provide personal support. No one has seen him since he left.”

“When did that happen?”

“Last night.”

“Is it… really okay for you to be telling me all of this? Military or government secrets, and all that?” Danny asked.

“Before he left, President Dell gave me instructions. I have been momentarily removed from his guard, and been appointed as your… military informant. I’m to help you further your assistance of the country,” Fable said, and he didn’t sound pleased about it. “If you reveal anything I’ve told you to anyone outside this room, you will be subject to legal action, and charged with revealing compromising government secrets.”

“There it is,” Danny mumbled. After the display on the tour bus, he figured it wouldn’t be long until he too was threatened with jail time.

“But I did not collect you only because of the President’s wishes.”

Danny’s eyebrows rose as he looked at the Lieutenant. “Then why?”

“By law, I must inform you that I consider you a suspect in the General and the President’s disappearance, and you will be monitored closely.”

…

At the end of their meeting, Danny was ushered out of the office and stumbled into Dash, who had been pacing slightly.

“Jeez, Fenton, took you long enough,” Dash spoke sourly.

“We’re going back to the estate,” Danny said, rotating his ankle uncomfortably. He tugged at his baggy pants, making sure his new cuff was securely hidden, and started walking without checking to see if Dash would follow. Honestly, Danny wasn’t surprised to be a suspect, at least in Fable’s eyes. The soldier was observant, critical, and not very trusting. He was just glad no one like Fable lived in Amity Park, or else his secret would have been discovered long ago.

After informing Danny of his suspected role in the disappearances, Fable provided him with an ankle monitor, the same kind they gave to prisoners on probation. It would track his every move, and was set to go off if Danny went anywhere outside of Eanna. Excluding the secondary presidential estate, where Danny and Dash would be staying while waiting for their class to return. Fable had continued the meeting after that, as if he hadn’t just threatened Danny, and told the halfa of the increasing ghost attacks.

Last night, the number of spectral entities in Eanna doubled, and increased by half in other cities and towns around the country. Before the ghosts had mainly just been a nuisance, terrorizing citizens, spooking children, and roaming the streets at night. But last night there had been an actual attack. Several homes were raided by ghosts, and a few citizens were severely injured. People roaming the streets had been attacked as well. This morning a curfew had been established, and the number of soldiers patrolling at night would increase that evening by decree of the government council. Fable theorized that the attack of the Abaddon was a signal for other ghosts around the island, and suspected Phantom to be the ringleader. He hadn’t outright said it, but it was heavily implied he believed Danny was this ghost.

Fable definitely had reason too. Danny had triggered sensors on the plane when they first arrived. His class had been in the city where the Abaddon was when it was destroyed, and he had black hair, much like the ‘mystery ghost’ Fable had seen two days prior. The worst part, though, was that it wasn’t all just coincidence. Danny _was_ that ghost, he _did_ destroy the Abaddon—even if he didn’t mean to—and it probably had been some kind of signal. Danny wasn’t much for thinking ahead, but he’d gotten better at judging Vlad’s schemes. In all likelihood, the ghost occupying Lamia were probably instructed beforehand to attack once the boat was destroyed. All Vlad had to do was rile Danny up, and the scene would be set.

It was clever, and Danny hated when Vlad was clever. But now there was even more to worry about. Dells had probably kidnapped Ezra. The general would be his highest concern when it came to the plot. Getting him out of the way would increase the hatred of ghosts, and the unease of the citizens. But why go into hiding himself?

At the moment, what Danny needed was his friends, the rest of Team Phantom, so they could try and figure this out. He had no idea what Fable expected him to do about their current predicament, or why Dells left those instructions. Danny was just supposed to be advising them on how ghosts work, he wasn’t actually supposed to _do_ anything. This was way bigger than Amity Park, this was a whole country. Sure, both Dan and Pariah were a threat to the world at large, but at the time their focuses had been small, and Danny had been in his element. Right now, he was lost, and he needed help.

There was only one person he could call.

…

Jazz was frustrated. Rather than going to Harvard, or Yale, or Princeton for his first year of college, she stayed in Amity Park. She had plans, next year, to attend a prestigious school. But for now she went to a lectures three times a week at Amity University, for a course in psychology, and ghosts. The elder Fenton’s weren’t the only ghost experts in the world, and some more scholarly enthusiasts had moved to Amity Park when the existence of ghosts became more public knowledge, and one of them had taken to teaching at the university. It certainly wasn’t a topic Harvard would touch upon, so Jazz chose to stay behind, and build up her knowledge on ghosts outside of her parents’ teachings, so she could become the first expert in ghost psychology.

That, and Danny. He was a big part of the reason she stayed behind. She worried for him from the day she discovered his big secret, and thought that leaving Amity would have negative effects on him, psychologically. She would ease her way out, so that next year he wouldn’t feel any loss when he left.

Danny claimed being a half ghost didn’t affect his emotional state, but Jazz firmly believed he was influenced by the more territorial side of his ghost half. After all, ghosts were notorious for claiming haunting grounds, like how animals have hunting grounds. She believed Danny’s territorial behaviour applied to his friends and family, which is why her leaving so abruptly would be bad.

But, none of this prevented her from being annoyed as she stared down at her psychology notes, reading over theories she had already examined when she first started high school. If the rest of the course was going to be like this, she wouldn’t learn anything new before going to Harvard.

With a sigh, Jazz closed her textbook, stuffed her notes inside the cover, and shoved the whole thing off to the side of her desk.

“Need a test subject?”

Jazz looked to her bed, where Danielle Phantom was sitting in human form, and scowled.

“Don’t let Danny hear you joke about that,” Jazz scolded. She, like the rest of Team Phantom when they first found out, was stunned by Danielle’s existence. And perplexed by her exact, technical relation to Danny, since neither halfa liked the term clone. Logically, it would make them siblings, perhaps even twins. Inspired by the age different between them, Tucker had once suggested they could be like father and daughter. He was quickly shut down. They settled on cousins, which would be easier, since it could also be used to explain Danielle’s human form.

A few months ago, there had been an incident where Dani was captured by the Guys In White. Danny went solo to rescue her, and somehow ended up in her place. It was almost a week before Team Phantom was able to break him out. Danny never explained what went on within those walls, but he had been extra touchy to the mention of experimentation and testing since then, especially when it came to Danielle.

“Boo.” Dani stuck out her tongue and rolled, so she was lying on her back, with her head hanging off the bed. “Don’t you want to get into the mind of a thirteen year old who’s technically only one year old, or something?”

“Later,” Jazz suggested with a smile. She was all too happy to consider Danielle a little sister, and had toyed with bringing the young halfa before her parents in the hopes that they would adopt her. Maybe one day.

Dani opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a hiccup, and a swirl of blue breath. She groaned.

“I don’t know how Danny does it all the time. This is exhausting.” The light of Danielle’s transformation rings challenged that of the sun, and Jazz’s room was washed in a white glow. Dani rose of the bed, knees folded underneath her, and floated through Jazz’s wall, yawning all the while.

Jazz smirked and turned back to her desk, turning on her computer and pulling up a twenty-four hour web broadcast. It was started by some kid in Los Angeles. It was all ghosts, all the time. It displayed grainy cellphone footage, news broadcasts, and had even featured an interview with the Groovy Gang once. The irony was that LA was one of the least ectoplasmically active cities in the country, Danny said it was something about ghosts not liking smog.

The video on loop, some traffic camera footage of one of Danny’s fights a month or so ago, was interrupted by live streamed footage of Danielle and Klemper. Jazz laughed when the ice ghost grabbed the halfa in what looked to be a bone crushing hug. Hopefully not literally.

The sound of her cellphone ringing cut through the noise of the broadcast. Jazz glanced at the screen. She didn’t recognize the number, or the area code. After a few rings, she decided to answer.

“Hello?” Jazz glanced at the screen, making sure Danielle was okay and didn’t need her help.

“ _Jazz! You actually answered, great._ ”

“Danny?” Jazz asked.

“ _Yeah, hi. How’s Dani-with-an-i?”_

“She’s good, Amity is safe. How’s the trip?”

“ _It’s a little complicated, it’s actually why I called_.”

“Really, what- oh, wait, hold on a second.” Jazz removed the phone from her ear as she watched Danielle deliver a final, devastating punch to Klemper, and suck him into a thermos.

“Yes!” Jazz cheered quietly, ignoring Danny’s frantic questions. She turned expectantly to the window, and grinned as Danielle floated in, yawning again, and tossed Jazz the thermos. She caught it and placed it on the desk. In a few hours, when her parents were no longer in the lab, she or Danielle would take the thermos down and release the captured ghosts.

“Exhausting!” Danielle groaned loudly.

“ _Dani?_ ”

Jazz winced, jerking the phone away as Danny shouted on the other side. Of course Danny, with his amazingly good ears, heard Danielle.

“Danny?” The youngest halfa perked up and floated over to Jazz, looking at the phone. “Hey, cuz. How’s the distant land? I went to Lamia once. Awesome forest, the rangers were cool.”

“ _Yeah, I’m not a fan of the rangers_.”

“Any cool stuff going on? We heard there’s a lot of ghosts there right now, and- whoa… you blew up a boat?” Danielle’s eyes had wandered to Jazz’s computer. Rather than replaying the same fight as before, it showed a foreign broadcast. From Lamia, actually. The newscaster was talking about a series of ghost attacks, in the corner of the screen was shaky footage of a burning ship, with Danny Phantom flying above it.

“Danny, what did you do?” Jazz asked, maximizing the video so it filled the screen. She paused it, and the frozen image made Danny look like anything but a villain. Hovering above the flames, eyes glowing bright green, and his fists charged with energy.

“ _That’s why I called. I need your help._ ”

Jazz glanced at the screen one more time, then grabbed a fresh note book from her drawer. She flipped it open, put her phone on speaker, and took up her pen. “What do you need, little brother?”

…

The two girls listened closely as Danny explained everything that happened the past few days, which was a lot. Jazz wrote down every detail, quickly sketching timelines, pulling up maps of Lamia on her computer, while Danielle used Danny’s laptop to look up facts about the country, anything that could be useful.

“ _And now Dash is in the other room, and I’m using the president’s phone. Or, the president’s guest house’s phone. Whatever._ ” Danny finished his explanation, and Jazz took a moment to read the notes she had made.

“And you’re positive it’s Dells Vlad is working with?” she asked.

“ _Yeah. I mean, Sam said the country became all militarized when he was elected, which is pretty suspicious._ ”

“It also sounds like he knew he’d go missing,” Jazz mused. “He left instructions, which meant he expected to be gone for a while. Generals can be powerful political figures. If Dells felt threatened by this Erza guy…”

“ _Ezra_ ,” Danny corrected.

“Right. Then chances are, Vlad has the general locked up somewhere, and maybe Dells is dealing with him?” Jazz suggested.

“ _Yeah, that’s what I was thinking. My plan was to tell Ezra about the president and Vlad, but that’s not gonna happen._ ”

“What about the soldier?”

“ _Fable?_ ”

“Yes. You need to tell someone about what’s going on. You may be a hero, little brother, but you’re not in Amity.”

“ _So I keep thinking. Maybe this is how Dorothy felt…_ ”

Jazz rolled her eyes and pulled Danny’s laptop closer, looking through the different tabs Danielle had open. There was history, a Wikipedia page, information of Dells term in office so far.

“This one’s my favourite,” Danielle said, floating over Jazz’s shoulder and pointing to the current webpage. “Apparently there’s a tunnel system under the capital, built during the wars or evacuation in case they were ever attacked.”

“ _Dani, you’re a genius_!” The male halfa shouted.

“Uh, I am?”

“ _Yeah, of course! I gotta go._ ”

Jazz’s phone beeped as Danny hung up, and the two girls shared a confused look, unsure how exactly they had managed to help.


	14. The Tunnel

“Fenton, where’re you going?” Dash demanded. Danny stopped, halfway out the door, and leaned back to peer around the wall and into the living room. He had only hung up on Jazz and Dani a couple minutes ago, and would have just phased out of the house, if it weren’t for the fact that Fable probably had ghost sensors set up around the property by now. Dany wouldn’t put it past him. The only way he would be leaving is as a normal person, which regrettably meant the risk of Dash watching him go.

Danny just didn’t think the jock would care. “I’m going for a walk.”

“Another one?” Dash asked.

Danny cursed inwardly. He had, admittedly, forgotten he already used that excuse. “Some people like to go for walks, Dash.”

“At,” Dash glanced at the clock on the wall, “eleven o’clock? Isn’t there, like, some kind of curfew or something?”

“I won’t leave the property, okay? Would you lay off, Dash?” Danny snapped. He was starting to be seriously concerned about Dash’s behaviour the past twenty-four hours.

To Danny’s surprise, Dash’s eyes widened and he quickly looked away. He seemed to be thinking deeply. Danny was about to just leave him there when the jock stood. “Fine, but I’m coming with you.”

 _Now_ Danny was certain something was wrong with Dash. “You what?”

“I’m coming with you. There’s ghosts and stuff, right? You’re too wimpy to defend yourself, and if Lancer comes back and you’re dead or something, I don’t want to get detention.” Dash crossed his arms and glared at Danny, challenging him. This, at least, was a little bit like how he was supposed to act.

“Are you feeling okay?” Danny asked.

“Shut up, Fenturd, and let’s go.”

Danny scowled but relented. He would just have to find a moment to slip away, he did it all the time in Amity. The air outside was cool, but since Eanna was further inland there wasn’t a strong coastal wind. Danny immediately steered them towards a line of trees along one side of the house. He walked briskly, but Dash kept pace only a few steps behind him.

Danny could feel the jock’s eyes on him. He could have very easily just started running and left Dash in the dust. His ghostly endurance and power had long ago bled into his human form. Danny preferred flying to running, but if it came down it, he was definitely faster than the average high school footballer.

Picking up his pace, Danny started walking between the trees, weaving his way in and out of the line of thick trunks. He could feel Dash’s confused stare, but paid no mind, as long as the jock didn’t follow him exactly. Danny skirted around a tree with a particularly large trunk and a conveniently low hanging branch. As soon as he was out of sight, he jumped and grabbed the branch, pulling himself up and scurrying higher into the tree. Each time he stretched he could feel his side screaming in protest. He stopped, panting, once he was safely hidden amongst the leaves and watched Dash a moment.

Dash was looking around, his head swivelling from side to side. “Fenton?” he called. Dash jogged up to the tree Danny was perched in and walked around it, poking and prodding at the bark.

To Danny’s amusement, Dash knocked on the trunk of the tree and pressed his ear against it.

“Fenton?” he called again. When Dash looked up, Danny flattened himself against the trunk of the tree, making his body as small as possible. He almost slipped into intangibility out of habit but just managed to catch himself. Dash scowled at the leaves for way too long for Danny’s comfort before finally looking away. He spun around, scanning the yard, and ran off in a random direction, shouting Danny’s name.

Danny waited until Dash was a fair distance away. The jock was still in sight, but Dany didn’t want to stay in the tree much longer. He had things to do. Carefully, he climbed down, making sure not to stress his side too much. Once his feet touched solid ground, he pulled up his shirt to quickly examine his gauze patch. He had changed it when they arrived at the guest house, but Danny’s quick escape put too much strain on the wound, and already there was some light red spotting seeping through the bandage. He let his shirt drop, hoping it wouldn’t bleed enough to stain the fabric. He had only brought so many shirts.

Making sure Dash’s back was to him, Danny crept back along the house, staying behind the trees. When he reached the end of the row he made a dash for the bushes. Thankfully the estate was full of all kinds of foliage, especially along stone drive. As long as he crouched, Danny could stay out of sight and hurry along.

He reached the main gate without incident and quickly realized the flaw in his plan. There was a guard keeping watch. Danny would have liked to think it was to keep the ghosts out, but he knew better. Fable had sent someone to make sure he stayed in.

Danny gnawed on his lip, glancing at the fence. He _could_ walk further down and climb it, but there were probably all kinds of sensors set up along the perimeter. The lieutenant had boasted extensively on how carefully Danny would be monitored when he expressed his suspicions.

But there was one thing that could work in Danny’s favour. Since he emitted a weak ectoplasmic signature in his human form, and Fable was under the impression this was caused by contact with his parent’s inventions, any ghost sensors that may have been planted in the area would have to be calibrated to a stronger signal so they won’t constantly go off. As long as Danny didn’t transform or intentionally use his powers, he should theoretically be safe from detection.

When he first got his powers, Danny slipped up all the time. The excess energy would influence his human body and make him do ghostly things, like turn intangible or invisible when he didn’t mean to. Tucker had taken careful logs of Danny’s energy output over time, and they discovered these mishaps used no more energy than Danny emitted on a regular basis in human form. It was just looking for somewhere to go.

Danny shuffled away from the gate, hunched over in the bushes close to the fence, and closed his eyes. Rather than focusing in pulling his ghost core up to the surface, he simply released his hold on it, letting his abilities leak out of their own volition.

A cool sensation washed over his body as he turned invisible. Danny huffed in frustration, but knew that if he tried to consciously control his abilities, he would reveal himself. He remained patient as his feet started to tingle and sink into the ground.

It was a start, but he needed his whole body to be intangible. He curled his fingers to prevent his entire body from slipping below the ground as he sunk to his knees then his waist. The tingling spread up his arms and Danny pressed his hands against the black bars of the fence, feeling his body slip further under the earth as he lost his anchor in the grass.

Danny glanced over his shoulder, checking to make sure the guard hadn’t noticed him. He hadn’t. Instead the blue clad soldier was looking back towards the house. Danny followed his gaze and saw Dash jogging in their direction.

“Come on,” Danny hissed, pulled at the fence as if he could rip it from the ground. If he were in his ghost mode, he probably could.

The tingling had slowed when it reached his elbows and neck, now slowly spreading up his arms and head. Still holding the fence, Danny dragged himself through the ground so every intangible part of his body was on the other side. If anyone saw him, they would run away screaming. His torso was halfway in the ground. To an outsider it would look like his arms and neck were stabbed through by the bars.

“Fenton?!”

Danny jerked at how close Dash sounded, his chin banging against the metal. He craned his head back and saw Dash walking up to the guard.

“Hey, you seen Fenton around here?”

Danny cursed. Why did Dash care so much all of a sudden? He wriggled forwards a little more so his chin was halfway through. That’s when he felt the tingling sensation start to fade. Quickly, he pulled his body out of the ground, his heels kicking up dirt as he yanked them free just before they turned solid. The feeling was receding faster than it spread. Danny thrashed, trying to force himself through the bars. He nudged his powers along, careful not to use too muck should he set off the alarm. It was fast enough his chest was already solid. At this rate he really would be impaled.

“Oh, screw this,” Danny muttered. He gave his powers a strong push lurched forwards before he snapped out of intangibility. He immediately got to his feet, ready to run at the first sound of an alarm, but nothing happened.

“Yes,” Danny whisper shouted and pumped his fist. He hunched down where he couldn’t be seen and went ghost. It wasn’t until the white light faded that he realized he probably should have gone further before doing so. The moment Danny was settled comfortably in his ghost form, the alarms went off.

They were loud and blaring, echoing across the open landscape.

Danny heard the guard curse loudly and stole a moment to glance back at the gate. The guard rushed back to the security and grabbed a phone. He looked up and met Danny’s gaze with wide eyes. He shouted something that sounded French, and soon Dash saw him too.

“Hey, Danny Phantom!” Dash shouted and waved, running forwards.

“Uh, good day, citizen!” Danny boldly called, then took off into the sky.

Dash ran past the perimeter of the estate, ignoring the guard calling him back, and his hand lowered. Dash looked at the stars, frowning. “But… it’s night time.”

…

As he flew to the center of Eanna, Danny loudly chastised himself for not thinking his actions through, his admonishment carried away on the wind. If any other member of Team Phantom had been there, he wouldn’t have done something so stupid. But it was too late now.

He couldn’t hear the siren anymore, but there were plenty of soldiers wielding ghost hunting weapons and shooting anything that looked mildly spectral. Danny saw one of them shoot a bright green sign.

The soldiers were jumpy and nervous, but they had reason to be. Danny could feel the ghosts around him. Once or twice he saw bunches of soldiers chasing green blobs. There weren’t any real attacks going on, but the ghosts were certainly active.

Danny hated to ignore them, but he had to stop the ghosts at the source. And that meant returning the alley where Fable first found him.

This time, he made sure there were absolutely no soldiers in the area before descending below the rooftops. He turned human and grabbed his case of lock picking tools. It was times like these that he wished his jumpsuit came with the same ridiculous number of pockets and hidden pouches his parents had.

Maybe he should get a utility belt.

Danny made quick work of the lock, slipping the tools back into the pocket. He let the door swing open and peered inside. What little moonlight there was spilling into the alley illuminated a series of steps. Danny could only assume that when the moonlight stopped, they didn’t.

He stepped inside, his toes hanging off the first stair. There was a switch on the wall beside him, and his hand hovered over it. He hesitated. The light was off for a reason. If anyone went down there after him, they would know he was there. Or they would know someone was. Reluctantly, he curled his fingers into a fist and lowered his hand by his side. He couldn’t take another stupid risk.

Danny closed the door behind him and once he was in total darkness, went ghost again. His aura provided just enough light for him to see by. He gingerly touched the walls and the roof, trying to phase through. All of it was ghost proof. Even the stairs.

He started floating down. He wasn’t sure how long it took, but it felt like forever before he finally reached the bottom of the stairs. He absently wondered how far beneath the street he was.

Danny couldn’t see much besides the wall across from him, but he could feel the extra space. Gingerly, and wary of the possibility of any foreign eyes, he held his hand up and let ectoplasm gather in his palm, rippling over his glove.

Now able to see from wall to wall, Danny noted the hallway must have been about eight feet across, much wider than the measly four of the stairwell. The walls were made of layered brick and the floor was concrete, all probably original, but the ceiling was only a white tile that looked new, along with the light fixtures sprouting every few feet. There were holes and hooks in the walls where Danny assumed a sort of miner’s lighting system had previously been used.

Whatever the soldiers were doing with it, this had been a recent decision. Probably in the last year or so. Danny’s thoughts immediately skipped to Vlad. He wasn’t sure how much the billionaire invested into this little endeavour, but he wouldn’t be surprised if the older halfa had helped fund this little renovation, especially since it involved ghost proofing everything.

The hallway stretched into the distance in either direction, curving slightly on his left. Besides that he couldn’t see any noticeable difference. On a whim, he decided to go right. He wasn’t totally sure what he expected to find down there.

Dani said the tunnels had been built for emergency evacuations. They probably stretched under the entire city, and could have any number of entrances above ground. But there had to be something important close to this one for Dells to use it the day Danny saw him.

He was contemplating how far down he should go before changing directions when he stumbled upon a thick metal door. It, like the ceiling tiles, looked new. And like everything out, he tested it with intangibility first. Miraculously his hand actually sunk into the surface this time. Dells was either too confident in his first door, or he didn’t think it would matter if any ghost did matter to find their way down.

It wasn’t a reassuring thought.

He phased through the door and raised his hand up. The room was wider than the hall, and very deep. There were racks of guns, similar to the ones the soldiers up above were armed with now. But still there was something different about them. Danny floated up to the first rack and examined the weapon closely.

Most of Vlad’s designs were in some way based off Fenton Works’ devices. These were no different. The guns had the same basic shape and casing as the average Fenton Blaster, but there was an unnecessary magazine in the grip.

The benefit of anti-ecto weapons was that they didn’t need normal bullets. They utilized a form of negative ectoplasmic energy that was harmful to ghosts, molding and expanding it into various form depending on the weapon type. A single vial of the stuff could last Jack two days of nonstop ghost hunting, and he was more than a little trigger happy. Not to mention his shoddy aim meant he took twice as many shots to hit his intended target.

These vials were normally inserted into a cartridge along the barrel of the gun, or beside the sights.

Danny removed the magazine and flipped it over in his hands. The bullets looked normal, meaning this gun functioned to harm both ghosts _and_ humans.

If Vlad’s whole Dells-wants-to-take-over-the-world spiel had been accurate, it wouldn’t be so farfetched for the president to want knew guns. But once the unrest in Lamia was dealt with and a neighbouring country blamed for it, ghosts would no longer be the enemy.

“What are you planning?” Danny muttered. He set the magazine back down on the shelf and was about to venture further inside when he felt something stab into his back. Danny gasped and cried out as he was shocked, dropping to the floor as he changed back to human. His fingers curled and uncurled as the ectoplasmic electricity coursed through his body.

Danny had tried, once, to explain what this kind of electricity felt like. It wasn’t normal, not like the average electrical socket or portal shock. It was constricting. It molded around his ghost core and _squeezed,_ burning the very source of his ghostly being. There were few worse pains.

But still, it felt nothing like the portal.

Danny gasped, trying to hold himself up on his elbows. He pressed his head to the ground and managed to lift his torso, looking upside down at the figure behind him. The lights in the room snapped on, and his eyes widened in shock.

“You?” he asked.

Lieutenant Fable smirked. “Yes, me.”


	15. The Culprit

After Danny and Dash left, Lancer and Elaine tried to get the trip back on track. The English teacher was a little shaken by Fable’s threat and, if the situation weren’t so serious, the class probably would have laughed at the way he jumped when the bus was suddenly surrounded by soldiers on their way out of the city.

“Ugh, what now?” Paulina whined, glaring at the soldiers out the window. “Unless you’re taking more losers, go away.”

The remaining members of Team Phantom, and most of the class, ignored her as one of the soldiers knocked on the bus’ door. It opened and the soldier approached the driver.

“Sir, I’m afraid you’re going to have to turn around and return to the city. All roads are being closed off and no travel is allowed at this time,” the soldier said. She didn’t wait for a reply.

“Wait, what’s going on?” Lancer called after her, and went largely ignored.

The driver turned around, and in no more than ten minutes, the class was back at the hotel bringing their bags up to their rooms once more.

“What do you think is happening?” Tucker asked as he dropped his suitcase onto the floor.

“The president is missing,” Sam said.

Tucker blinked at her, and both girls groaned.

“Their restricting travel so they can find him better. That way whoever has him can’t travel between cities,” Sam explained.

“Unless it’s a ghost, then it doesn’t matter,” Valerie added. She dropped into the corner chair, resting her chin on her knuckles. “What are we going to do if Danny needs our help?”

“We won’t know. He didn’t take his Fenton Phone.” Tucker tossed the earpiece onto the bed and shrugged.

“That idiot,” Sam hissed. They fell silent, brainstorming on the different ways they could reach Eanna without alerting the soldiers, or their classmates. Sam was staring intently at the bedspread beneath her folded legs, frowning and tracing patterns across the material. She blinked, her hands pausing for a moment, before she began tracing again, but this time with purpose.

“There’s an old road,” Sam said, breaking the silence. “People used to use it for ATVs and stuff like that. It cuts straight through the island, rather than going around. When I was younger my… uncle and I would make trips of it, we’d bring camping stuff and driving across the island in a couple days.”

“That seems kind of long,” Valerie pointed out.

“Yeah, but I was eight, and we took our time. If you know the right routes, you can do it in a matter of hours since it doesn’t follow the coast like the normal roads. It’s even faster than the military routes,” Sam explained.

“So, how are we going to do this? We don’t have ATVs,” Tucker said.

Sam waved off his concern. She already had a plan for that. “Don’t worry about it. But we can’t all disappear, Lancer’s definitely going to notice that. Val, how faster does your hoverboard go?”

“Almost as fast as Danny.”

“Good. If you can fly to the capital, Tuck and I can cover for you. When you get there, look for Danny and radio us. We’ll figure out a way to explain our absence over here.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Valerie snatched up her backpack, digging inside for her Red Huntress bracelets, and slapped them on her wrists. She went to the window and looked outside. Their hotel was on the edge of the city, so there was no one behind them to see her. “I’ll see you guys later!”

Valerie jumped out of the window. She activated her bracelets, and halfway down her fall the Red Huntress suit formed around her body. She snapped her heels together, and her hoverboard popped from the bottom of her feet just before she hit the ground.

“Think she’ll find him?” Tucker asked.

“Of course,” Sam answered. “They’re probably still flying. By the time Val gets there, Danny will only have been back in Eanna for a couple hours. How much trouble could he get into?”

###

“Lancer’s gonna _kill_ me!” Dash squeaked. It was well after dark in Eanna, he had no idea where he was, and he was pretty sure soldiers were chasing him. In the back of his mind Dash realized they would probably just help him, but he was more worried about Danny.

That’s right. Dash Baxter was worried about _Danny Fenton_ of all people. He had made a promise to himself that he would lay off the loser for a while, but apparently his subconscious planned to do more than that. From the moment Dash saw all those scars, he realized maybe he and Danny were similar. He absently wondered who Danny’s abuser was. His parents? The elder Fentons were loud and trigger happy, but they didn’t seem like the type.

Maybe Danny had a mean relative, like Dash did. Maybe… maybe Danny was doing it to himself. Maybe he lied when he said a ghost attacked him.

Dash shook his head, pulling back further into the shadows of the store entrance as a group of soldiers ran by. He still didn’t get how Danny could slip away from him like that when they were walking around the guest estate.

Dash never got an answer from that soldier at the front gate when he asked where Danny was, they were both too shocked at the sight of Phantom crouching by the perimeter fence. Dash had seen him by the boat, the _Abaddon_ , the one that burnt down. He didn’t believe that Phantom had been the cause. It had to be a misunderstanding.

But worrying about that did nothing to explain the ghost hero’s presence in Lamia anyways. Though they were having a ghost problem. Maybe he was going national?

“Phantom!” Dash shouted. If anyone could help him find Danny, it would be the ghost boy. “Phantom!”

“You idiot, do you want all the ghosts in the city to find you?”

Dash spun around at the sound of a familiar hum. “Red Huntress? You’re here to?”

“Yeah, whatever. Just stop being so loud,” Valerie hissed.

“I thought heroes were supposed to be nice,” Dash said with a frown.

“I’m whatever I want to be. Why aren’t you inside? There’s a curfew.” Valerie leaned forwards, drifting closer to the ground.

“Hey, could you help me? I’m looking for my friend.”

The Huntress froze. Dash couldn’t see it, but she was frowning beneath her helmet. “Friend?”

“Yeah. Danny Fenton. One of the lo- uh, my classmate from Amity,” Dash explained. “We went for a walk, and he disappeared. I think a ghost might have got him.”

“He’s not at the estate?”

“How do you know where we’re staying?”

Valerie ignored him. “Damn it.” She swerved, rising up above Dash’s head to hover at the rooftops. The jock stared after her, but she was far enough that he wouldn’t hear her.

“Sam, Tucker?” she spoke in into the Fenton phones.

“ _Valerie, about time. Tucker’s been pacing the room staring at his phone the whole time_ ,” Sam answered.

“ _I have not!_ ”

“Adorable. But I’ve got news, bad news. Dash is here walking around Eanna, looking for _Danny_. They went out for a walk, and Danny slipped away.”

“ _They_?” Sam asked.

“ _That idiot was probably just getting in the way, so Danny gave him the slip_ ,” Tucker said.

“Maybe, but I’ve got a bad feeling. It’s way too quite here. I think you guys should come. Do you know how you’re getting her?”

Valerie could hear the grin in Sam’s voice. “ _Oh, I’ve got a plan._ ”

…

“This is not a good plan!” Tucker shouted. He was clinging to the back of the ATV for dear life as Sam ripped through the streets, heading to the old road.

There were flashing lights and sirens behind them.

“It’s better than the great big nothing you thought of!” Sam shouted back. She was hunched over the handlebars, swerving from the road to the sidewalk as she maneuvered the stolen vehicle.

“But now we’re criminals!”

“So’s Danny!”

“You can’t arrest a ghost!” Tucker yelped as the ATV left the road, lurching when it hit the grass. He wrapped his arms around Sam’s waist and squeezed his eyes shot. Not for the first time, he wished he could fly like Danny, or had a cool hoverboard like Val. Anything would be better than this.

Speaking of Danny, Tucker wondered what he was doing now.

…

Danny blinked, rubbed his eyes, and shook his head as if that could change the sight before him. Fable blocked the doorway, a Plasmius Maximus in his hands. The shock was new. As Fable stepped further into the room, Danny rolled onto his back and scrambling backwards in an awkward crab walk before rising to his feet.

“But, I thought…” Danny’s voice trailed off, still struggling to come to terms with what he was seeing.

“General Ezra said this would be useful. Is the transformation a defense mechanism? You revert to a secondary form so you don’t look like as much of a threat. Just like an animal,” Fable said, holstering the Plasmius Maximus.

“Wait, the general? But-” Danny shook his head.

“Did you think I wouldn’t follow you? That the tracker on your ankle was just for show?” Fable asked.

Danny glanced at the cuff. He should have tried to freeze it and crack it off as soon as the alarm went off. _That’s_ why he was a D student, he only thought of good ideas once they were useless.

Fable looked at the racks of guns, picking up the one Danny had been examining. He reloaded the magazine. “I knew it was you I saw in the alley. And as soon as you learned I knew the president was missing, you would do something about it. I thought you’d be smarter, though. I _told_ you I suspected you.”

“You, wait, what’s going on here?” Danny asked, feeling like he was missing something vital. The moment he saw Fable, he thought all his suspicions had been wrong.

“I’m actually impressed you managed to do this. No one’s been down here in decades. I’m not sure how you did the reconstruction, though. Are the ghosts coming from down here too?” Fable asked.

“Wait, you’ve got it wrong, I didn’t- You said the _general_?”

Fable didn’t get a chance to respond, before the gun was yanked out of his hands and smashed down on the back of his head.

Danny flinched as the lieutenant dropped, and looked up at General Ezra. He said the first thing that popped into his head. “You’re supposed to be missing.”

“And you are supposed to be human. Funny, isn’t it?” Ezra flipped the gun in his hands so the barrel was pointing at Danny. “Thank you for making this easy for me.”

Danny’s first instinct, as a ghost, was to go intangible, but his powers were shorted out. His second instinct, as a human, was to duck. He did so as the shot rang out. The glowing green bullet past of his head, and he rolled out of the way just as another flew by right where his chest had been a moment ago.

He ran further into the racks, ducking around a corner and sprinting several aisles over. Ezra didn’t follow him, he didn’t have to. There was only one door into the room and as long as Ezra was between Danny and it, he couldn’t escape. Since moving laterally was no help, Danny went vertical. He climbed one of the gun racks, making as little noise as possible, and flattened himself against the top so Ezra couldn’t see him.

“I knew you would find your way down here after seeing me in that alley,” Ezra called out. “I didn’t at first, mind you, I’ll be that honest. I thought you were just one of Master’s puppets doing your job, until he mentioned a good ghost that could get in my way.”

Danny risked peering into the closest aisle. He caught the back of Ezra’s head as he patrolled back and forth across the front of the room. If Danny could just draw him away from the door, he could make a run for it.

“Well, you see, that’s kind of how the whole hero thing is supposed to work! I get in your way, and your plan falls apart,” Danny answered. Ezra’s footsteps stopped, and Danny pulled back from the edge. He shuffled over so he couldn’t be seen from the general’s aisle.

“Ah, yes, a hero. They will call me that too, once I bring Dells’ assassin out from the shadows. But I supposed Masters already told you that as well.”

“Who says Masters told me anything?” Danny chided. He slowly started pulling himself closer to the front.

“Do not take me for a fool, of course he did. It’s all just business, and I’m sure he knows exactly who I plan to blame the death on as well.”

“Oh, yeah, blaming… Lieutenant Fable, how awful of you!” Danny cried out in faux distress. He felt like an idiot. All along he thought it had been Dells, then flor a split second he believed Fable was Vlad’s guilty partner. He realized now the general was the obvious choice. Kills Dells, blame Vlad, and take control. Then declare war, if Vlad was telling the truth.

In the back of his mind, Danny wondered if his gloating counted as some lame attempt at protecting Vlad. He decided the chance of getting more information was worth the risk of actually being _nice_ to the older halfa, albeit from far away.

“Good try, ghost, but I won’t be revealing anything. Not when there’s still so much you don’t know.”

Danny swore, silently of course, as Ezra realized his plan. Or part of it at least. So he wouldn’t learn anything new, but now he knew for sure who the enemy was, which meant Dells really was missing, and probably in danger.

By the sound of Ezra’s voice, he had drawn far enough away from the door for Danny to be confident in his escape. He himself to his feet, one sneaker slipping of the rack so thudded against the metal. He scrambled up again, running in a hunched position to keep from hitting the ceiling. An ecto-bullet grazed his arm as he reached the end of the rack. He leapt from it, clumsily rolling when he hit the floor then making a bee-line for the open door.

As Danny passed through it he found himself barreling into a green grid and slammed painfully into the adjacent wall, the ghost proof net snapping shut around him. Danny struggled against it but couldn’t escape.

Ezra was calmly walking towards him, the gun held loosely in his hands. “Easy, just like I said.”


End file.
